I would like to say right off the bat that I am generally profoundly uninterested by professional sports. Especially football. It dominates so much of the national conversation and I don’t see it doing anything productive. In fact, it’s often destructive to its employees and the cities that host them.
But this Colin Kaepernick has my attention. If you don’t already know the story, here’s the CliffNotes version:
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback began his protest when he refused to stand for the national anthem during the team’s first two preseason games. However, Kaepernick wasn’t in uniform or playing at the time so the media didn’t take notice until the start of the preseason game against Green Bay at Levi's Stadium on Aug. 26.
Kaepernick’s reason for his protest was revealed in an interview statement after the game on Aug. 26,
"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."
Cards on the table, I agree with him. The militarization of our police force and the deliberate targeting of minorities is a shameful blight on our country.
Even a symbolic stance against such policies can have an enormous impact. I applaud him for sticking by his convictions.
But I have to say, I’m surprised by the amount of outrage headed his way because of this - his exercising his right to protest civilly and pretty quietly. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be. “A Cry for Justice for Our Disrespected Flag" is just one of the latest examples.
The author, Shelly Henderson, takes the stance of patriotism and cites the very many men and women who have died in armed combat, “We MUST NOT stand against our OWN flag. That FLAG is OUR symbol of pride. If WE do not honor it, then who will?”
Maybe I’m just a cynical bastard, but I will never understand this amount of faith in symbols. Because that’s all the flag is. Symbols don’t mean anything without the real, flesh-and-blood people standing behind it.
Yes, many of those people have died in the interests of our country. But I don’t think I’m out of line for saying that many of those same people didn’t die for a flag.
They died for their friends and families. That’s why we call them heroes.
Furthermore, nowhere in Kaepernick’s statements (that I can find anyway) does he mention veterans or a show a lack of respect for them.
So this isn’t really about the armed forces or veterans, and should therefore be taken out of the conversation. What this is really about is national pride.
Again, I go back to Henderson’s statement: “That FLAG is OUR symbol of pride.”
Is it? If Kaepernick’s protest and its supporters have communicated anything to me, it’s that it might be yours, but it’s not theirs.
I can’t imagine the kind of cognitive dissonance it creates to stand up for a symbol that should mean equality and dignity for all and have your communities continually targeted. To stand for that could be portrayed as perpetuating a nationally-held lie.
Rejecting the national anthem and by extension a flag doesn't hurt anyone, but instead shows that we are not holding up to our ideals - a problem that has existed in the United States from the beginning. To ignore that is to forget history and all we can learn from it.
But put your faith and trust in a symbol, if that’s what you want. You have every right to do so.
But the day Americans are more outraged by lack of concern for a piece of polyester than the lack of concern for the lives of their countrymen is a day I would be ashamed to see.
Flags don’t need justice. People do.
