Remarks from the president about disrespecting the United States flag brought back to the spotlight when Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and now free agent, decided to protest by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.
The National Football League has shown solidarity in response to the president’s comments. Most of the Oakland Raiders kneeled or sat for the national anthem on Sept. 24. The Seattle Seahawks and the Tennessee Titans decided not to leave their locker rooms until after the anthem. Outside of the NFL, Stevie Wonder kneeled at the Global Citizen Festival, Bruce Maxwell kneeled at a Major League Baseball game, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association stayed in their locker room during the anthem.
Whether or not you agree with the content of the protest, dismissing it as simply disrespecting the American flag and an excuse to fire someone misses the mark in a way that would have completely changed the William Tell story. I have heard a lengthy string of criticisms of this kneeling, and each one warrants a closer look. Many of them derive from a racial double standard and a mistaken definition of patriotism.
Even if some people like to claim race holds no weight but that is contrived by people of color, it cannot be ignored. There is a distinct problem with white critics demanding that a man of color stand or does not kneel for a flag that has historically stood for the enslavement, degradation, lynching and overall brutality of his people. Of course, these criticisms are not coming solely from white people or from all white people, but they do make up a fair portion of it. Some white nationalists at a rally in Charlottesville were deemed “very fine people” and given an out due to “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” Daily racism is excused by economic anxiety. Football players of color who kneel, however, are “sons of b—–s.” A political cartoon by cartoonist Matt Davies showed how a wealthy, white man can decry the faults of the United States, be considered a man of the people and become the President of the United States, but when a wealthy man of color kneels, the same people support claims that he should be fired.
Is kneeling during the national anthem really disrespecting the flag? If so, is it any more insulting than displaying a flag that was literally made for wanting to break up the United States, that is the confederate flag? According to the United States Flag Code, the flag should never “be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free,” “be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery,” “be used as a receptacle for…anything,” “be used for advertising purposes,” “be used as a costume or athletic uniform,” or “be used as a covering for a ceiling.” Though seen often, none of these actions draw as much heavy criticism as kneeling. Why, then, should such critics cherry pick what they decide patriotism means and project that onto everyone else?
Demanding that a person follows a strict recipe of patriotism is not patriotism. To me, protesting is patriotic. Trying to silence protests is unpatriotic. Demanding more from a country and not accepting injustices does not correlate to hate. Loving and respecting my country should not mean I just stand idly by, follow orders and be silent. There is an inherent irony in saying that people have to stand for the flag because they should be grateful they don’t live in an authoritarian government that would force them to kneel for the flag.
Critics cite the many who have served the country, but the people in our military do not serve for a flag. My father served in the United States Navy for 22 years and retried as a commander. My brother currently serves in the Navy. Both served so people have the freedom to protest, not for red, white and blue threads sown together into a symbol of that freedom. The hashtag veteransforkaepernick further muddies the waters of any claim that these critics speak for all military veterans. Yes, some military veterans consider the kneeling disrespectful, but generalizing that to all military versus kneeling requires a leap of logic that could make overseas flights obsolete. Patriotism means more than just being pro-military. Patriotism means standing with your fellow citizens whether or not they served in the military.
Critics should also remember that Kaepernick is not protesting the flag, just as Rosa Parks was not protesting a bus, the Greensboro sit-ins was not a protest of lunch counters, the Sons of Liberty were not protesting tea, and Gandhi was not protesting salt.
Other critics wish to keep politics from being entangled with Sunday football. Everything, however, is entangled in politics. The idea of an apolitical area is more fantastical than Hogwarts. Politics were on the football field when people of color were not allowed on a professional football team and when they were allowed to join. The University of Georgia received its first African-American students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, in 1961, but it was another decade until the Bulldogs recruited their first African-American football players, Horace King, Richard Appleby, Larry West, Clarence Pope and Chuck Kinnebrew. Trying to extract politics from anything is as practical as opening every wardrobe in the world in search for the portal to Narnia.
So far, the NFL has not dismissed the players kneeling in response to the president’s comments. While firing someone for a peaceful protest is not unconstitutional for a private institution, it does set a dangerous precedent. Employees fear being fired for a belief that does not impair working capabilities rather than being fired on a merit basis. While it can be appealing to support firing someone for a belief you disagree with, it opens the door to firing you for your belief.
Before anyone goes praising the actions of the NFL, bear in mind that it has only now acted. Where was this united front after Trump’s remarks to Khizr and Ghazala Khan or when the “Access Hollywood” tapes were released? Where was this degree of solidarity when Kaepernick first kneeled? Is this united kneeling really support for Kaepernick’s cause or just a reactionary instinct to being told what to do?
By all means, boycott the NFL if you want. Discuss the issue. Talk about your definition of patriotism and what disrespecting the flag means. Most importantly, be clear and consistent about it. Do so, however, with an understanding of the double standard applied to Kaepernick because of his skin color.
