San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is sitting
through the playing of the national anthem before his games to claim his
solidarity with people who are treated unequally and unjustly in America. Kaepernick said:
“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.”
It’s a gutsy, passive protest. By beginning his protests during the
preseason when the team could have cut him, he risked his career. The NFL could have fined him for conduct that
was deemed financially or critically damaging to the league. He risked harm to his personal reputation and
his personal safety. But, Kaepernick
embraced his Constitutional right to free speech and sat.
The 49ers coach, Chip Kelly, stood by Kaepernick, telling reporters
his quarterback’s action is “his right as a citizen” and “it's not my right to
tell him not to do something.” San
Francisco 49ers teammate Eric Reid and the Seattle Seahawks’ Jeremy Lane
supported Kaepernick and subsequently declined to stand for the national anthem
as well.
Readers might ask why I am bringing this up in a political
blog. I am highlighting this issue
because it demonstrates one of the fundamental perceptual rifts in our society.
On the one hand, people who never experienced systematic
discrimination often react angrily to Black Lives Matter protesters. They may blame the victims of police
shootings and believe media excuses that victims had alleged gang affiliations,
criminal backgrounds, or “reached for a gun” rather than a wallet. They fail to note later media reports correcting
initial false information, seldom ponder injustice, and simply go on with their
grumpy day.
On the other hand, there are people who have experienced
injustice. Women who know they are
receiving a lower wage than their male coworkers know injustice. People of color who were pulled over by
police because they were driving at night know injustice. Sick, working poor people who were denied
Medicaid because they “earn too much” know injustice. People in inner cities who live at the dead
end of low-wage jobs due to inadequate elementary educations know injustice. These people may live in resentful silence knowing
discrimination is alive and well in America.
These fast-moving, diametrically opposed perceptual undercurrents
fuel voter decisions. The choices people
make about whether they will vote and for whom they will vote cannot be
quantified by pollsters who want to predict how voters will express their
emotional realities on Election Day. We
could predict a sports figure would take a public position on current
events. We could predict people would
oppose and disagree with the sports’ figure’s position. But, we still cannot imagine the impact.
In closing, I will do something I have never done in this
blog. In my non-blogging time, I write
poetry. (http://chairthelyonkramer.tumblr.com/). Here’s to you, Colin. Fight the good fight.
Sitting to Stand
A half black man sits down on a bench
And stands for all people police have shot down
In fear and unbefitting no crime.
A man with grace and athletic elegance.
A man with a college degree and a fat paycheck.
A man who became what he is today,
He is a man with a right to sit and stay.
What is more American than this protest?
Risking health and reputation and career
He stands for his countrymen by sitting down.
You so-called fans have no right to stop him.
You, armchair critics who send a football player
This latter day gladiator
Out to the grids on a Sunday
To lay down his body for your entertainment.
You want him to stand because you say so
Like all of the American Negros in our nation?
“Stand up! Roll over! Play dead!”
You make his point with your condemnation.
Mr. Man, sit where you can
Sit down, sir, please, and make your stand.
