After a year filled with terrorist attacks, race riots, attacks on the police and political vitriol, many Americans were looking forward to football season and rooting for their favorite team, assuming the games would be devoid of anything more controversial than the questions of who would be the starting quarterback and whether the coach would be fired.
But those hopes were dashed when San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick remained seated during the national anthem at the start of an NFL pre-season game.
Kaepernick led the Forty-Niners to the Super Bowl in 2014, but lost his starting job to Blaine Gabbert last year and is now relegated to bench-sitting.
He explained his refusal to stand for the anthem, saying, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
His statement infuriated many people, especially military veterans — black and white — for whom the flag is a symbol of the sacrifice they made and the brothers they lost in combat defending our nation. It is hugely insulting to tell these people the flag is a symbol of white oppression and that it is unworthy of respect. It is especially hard to take when this message comes from someone paid $1 million a game to sit on the bench and watch his teammates play.
Many in the liberal media sprang to Kaepernick’s defense, saying he was merely exercising his freedom of speech. Yes, Kaepernick has the right not to stand for the national anthem; he even has the right to burn the flag and spit on it if he so chooses. But many of Kaepernick’s defenders are the same people who heaped a torrent of scorn and criticism on Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow for expressing his religious convictions on the field. Wait: you’re a courageous hero to the left if you call the police murderous pigs and display shame of the American flag, but the subject of ridicule if you drop to one knee to give thanks to God after scoring a touchdown — an action derisively known as “Tebowing”?
Kaepernick has said he will “continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel like [the American] flag represents what it’s supposed to represent; this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to; I’ll stand.”
His protest has drawn support from a few other NFL players who have followed his cue and knelt during the National Anthem. Even some high school football teams are reported to be following his example.
Before the Sunday of Sept. 11, there were widespread rumors that the entire Seattle Seahawks team was going to kneel during the ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attack fifteen years ago. But when the national anthem was played, the entire Seahawks roster stood and interlocked arms in a demonstration meant to raise awareness of continuing racial issues in America while showing unity, brotherhood, respect for the flag and pride in our nation.
These are not mutually exclusive feelings. According to Russell Wilson, the Seahawks African-American quarterback, if a football team comprised of people of varying backgrounds and upbringings can come together, so can a nation. “In this country, we’ve gone through so much. The African-American community, we’ve gone through a lot. [But] not every police officer is a bad police officer. Not every African-American is a bad person.”
Kaepernick’s protest is a dead-end road: he’s going to refuse to stand until the nation meets his undefined standard of what … non-oppression? His action seems more designed to draw attention to him than to lead to any constructive action. The Seahawks’ demonstration acknowledges that ours is not a perfect nation while recognizing the progress that has been made by “Team America.” We have had enough racially divisive politics this year; it is time we work for unity and understanding.
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