That’s so crazy. That’s typically my response when someone tells me a story and I’ve heard nothing they’ve said, because I’d rather reiterate how insane the story was then hear it repeated. As human beings it is often that we define anything that is misunderstood as crazy, because we rather write it off than attempt to perceive it. So when Colin Kaepernick refuses to celebrate what he views as unjust society, people call him crazy.
But what I find more insane is the same people that call him crazy, ignore what’s going on in their beloved America. Black people have always set the standard and created what is cool in America from Blues to Trap Music. So when black people decide that #BlackLivesMatter is the standard now, our judgement on deciding what is “hip” is suddenly challenged. The problem is that there always been a problem. The police state has always been as savage as 21. But before regarding my last statement as crazy, see why Mumia’s still in a cell. Look up why Assata was placed on the most wanted list. Listen to Tupac's “Holler if ya hear me”. Search why Sean Bells name still rings, and your search engine will lead you to discover that a problem has always existed.
But how do we as late “8o’s and 90’s babies" and millennials address an issue that has preceded us and been passed down like unwanted hand-me-downs? As a generation, our experience with police brutality is different than those who came before us. Although, it is different, it is no less valid. And after being exposed to the amount of violence that we have been exposed to through social media and personal experience, it’s difficult to not feel like Colin Kaepernick. The issue is not police themselves. The problem is the system they represent. The racist infrastructure and foundation, that not only the policing system is built on, but also America is built on is what has to change. But that change does not come from condemning Colin Kaepernick for taking a stand. It comes from respecting and attempting to understand those who have taken action and then attempting to take action yourself.
It seems on the surface that America is just reaping what it has sown from the seeds of its strange fruit, and I think that in a sense that is what’s happening. My generation has risen from a racist fertile soil that forces the #BlackLivesMatter movement to blossom. We are as Tupac regarded himself, “roses that grew from concrete.” But, Colin Kaepernick is not crazy and neither is the story that the cashier told me last week, we just say they are because we have been conditioned to simply utter.
So, before societies regard Colin Kaepernick as just another one of those “crazy” black extremists, we have to listen, because it is something that we rarely ever do.
