Colin Kaepernick
The quarterback who was just recently benched for having one of the worst games that an NFL quarterback can possibly have. 5 sacks and fewer than 5 passing yards in a game.
The guy who has been supposedly reported as a supporter of Fidel Castro.
The multimillionaire athlete who takes a knee during the national anthem, one of America's most sacred rituals.
As most of white America says, Kaepernick is an unpatriotic, privileged, attention-seeking washed up quarterback.
But why does he take a knee during the national anthem? In Colin Kaepernick's eyes, he is giving a voice to the people of America who don't have one. In this case he is speaking about the ongoing of police brutality towards people of color. An issue that has quickly gained steam as one of America's most talked about topics over the past couple of years.
HOW DOES TAKING A KNEE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
How does taking a knee or refusing to stand during the national anthem make any sort of impact on society other than stirring up a ruckus that isn't appreciated by most people?
Well, that's where it starts. Kaepernick is getting the attention that he wants by getting America talking about it. This causes the conversation to start about police brutality and racial inequality which in turn gets folks voicing their opinions and then starts a divide.
This divide consists of Kapernick's supporters who are glad that he addressed such a pressing relevant issue and also Kaepernick's critics who are attacking who he is, a black man who happened to take a knee during the national anthem, rather than what he is taking a knee for.
HURTING THE NFL - GAINING STEAM
Turning a blind eye to the things of the real world is what America does best with the amount of television programming, the social media trends, and also the lack of compassion for things that aren't pleasant topics to bring up. America is a nation that is one of the sports capitols of the world.
The NFL has taken a huge hit from this protest. What started as a protest by one person then turned into a unifying action taken up by other professional athletes such as Megan Rapinoe, a gay woman, college athletes and high schools in Kentucky, Illinois, Virginia, Minnesota, and Maryland.
Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Finance writes that during a poll of 841 adults by phone who were asked to answer what their cause for watching less NFL games are, 56% said the anthem protests were a factor. Colin Kaepernick did in fact accomplish what he set out to do, which was unveil the unwillingness of this country to address this topic.
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| Well played Colin |
WHAT ARE WE SAYING ABOUT OUR PATRIOTISM?
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| Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted to fight other people of color. |
Muhammad Ali. Tommie Smith. John Carlos.
All three of these men of the 20th century had their own ways of protesting the treatment of people of color in the United States. But as time has gone on, one question remains.
Why are we still in the same hole that we were in nearly 50 years ago? The hole where a person of color has to make a public protest to raise and encourage discussion on a topic that should have been resolved by now?
To say that Colin Kaepernick did something un-American by making a societal issue, in this case racial inequality, a spectacle for discussion and correction is un-American in itself.
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| Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black gloved fists in the 1968 Olympics to protest unfair treatment of African Americans back in the US. |
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IT'S WORKING
According to Robert Klemko,it's working with more than 70 NFL players in a group chat talking about what Kaepernick started.
If you have the San Fran 49ers pledging to donate $1 million, I'm sure that you can say that this was a pretty effective movement on Kapernick's end.
AMERICA'S FEAR
Eddie Glaude - Chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton and author of Democracy in Black says that White America is nothing short of scared of the dangerous and disloyal person of color. He claims that this is true in Thomas Jefferson's notes on The State of Virginia. He was concerned about the retribution for the sin of slavery.
Tommi Lahren herself said "those in black communities [to] take a step back and take some responsi-damn-bility for the problems in black communities.”
Even in the midst of Kaepernick gaining support from US veterans with the hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick, Lahren still finds a way to say that he is still doing wrong although he has the support from these Veterans himself. If you watch these videos here, you will see that she continually looks for a way to bash Kaepernick by saying how much the country has "done for him".
David Hookstead completely ignored the reasoning behind Kapernick's protests by saying,"His birth parents abandoned him,a white family raised him, he received a full scholarship to play football and the NFL made him a multi-millionaire." It doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, "He was literally abandoned by his black birth father and was rescued by a white couple. If he has a right to be angry at anybody, it’s his black father."
It seems here that Hookstead's remark's are fueled by blatant racism. Although he tries to defend his point, he completely disregards that Kaepernick is protesting the oppression against minorities and instead words it in ways to say that Kaepernic should have more respect for the white people of America who have so graciously blessed him.
Wouldn't true American Patriots politely allow their President to address 9/11 in a tribute that obviously means so much to the families of the fallen?
Even in the midst of Kaepernick gaining support from US veterans with the hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick, Lahren still finds a way to say that he is still doing wrong although he has the support from these Veterans himself. If you watch these videos here, you will see that she continually looks for a way to bash Kaepernick by saying how much the country has "done for him".
David Hookstead completely ignored the reasoning behind Kapernick's protests by saying,"His birth parents abandoned him,a white family raised him, he received a full scholarship to play football and the NFL made him a multi-millionaire." It doesn't stop there. He goes on to say, "He was literally abandoned by his black birth father and was rescued by a white couple. If he has a right to be angry at anybody, it’s his black father."
It seems here that Hookstead's remark's are fueled by blatant racism. Although he tries to defend his point, he completely disregards that Kaepernick is protesting the oppression against minorities and instead words it in ways to say that Kaepernic should have more respect for the white people of America who have so graciously blessed him.
PATRIOTIC?
If we are so patriotic as a country then how come there wasn't any backlash for NFL teams waiting in the locker room during the National Anthem? Teams weren't standing for the anthem until 2009. And as far as I remember, nobody said even a sentence about this.
Also, if protesting for the National Anthem is wrong, then I assume it's okay for Kansas City Chiefs fans to finish this sacred anthem with "home of the CHIEFS!"
Wouldn't true American Patriots politely allow their President to address 9/11 in a tribute that obviously means so much to the families of the fallen?
RIGHT OUR WRONGS?
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U.S. Sen. Carl Schurz of Missouri
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Scherz said, "My country right or wrong; if right,to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
This goes to say that if something is unjust in our country then we have every possible liberty to make things better for the greater good. America is supposed to home of the free.
When will we start seeing that?
Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Colin Kaepernick.
These names are of men who have made a stand for the minority groups in America.
What is the right way to make your voice heard? What is the wrong way? Because at this point it seems that we are doing it all wrong. And as the platform of social media gets bigger, exposure of these things increases. Pretty soon, we won't be able to hide the elephant in the room.
"My country right or wrong; if right,to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."
