How To: A Guide to Whitewashing a Protest

(Colin Kaepernic and Eric Reid,  2016)

To say the past year has been interesting is an understatement.  Social issues can be seen almost any and everywhere you turn, but today we are focusing on the NFL. Disclaimer: I am not a sports watcher. I watch football only once a year and that is for the half time show during the Super Bowl. With that being said, I do keep myself regularly informed on social issues. August of 2016, Colin Kaepernick (who was at the time a quarterback for the San Francisco’s 49ers) began a peaceful protest in where he stopped standing for the national anthem during football games. This was a peaceful protest against police brutality and other forms of systematic oppression towards people of color in the United States. “I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” stated Kaepernick in an interview way back in 2016. Many people saw this form of protest as disrespectful to the Flag, National Anthem and Veterans.

To make a long story short, a lot of people had issues with it, Kaepernick continued to silently and peacefully protest but after talking to a military veteran he started kneeling so as not to be disrespectful and is currently a free agent. While some believe has is now being blackballed by the NFL for having the audacity to protest, other believe that his talent isn’t up to par and that is why he hasn’t been picked up by a team this season.  He is standing up for a cause most NFL team owners or even parts of society don’t want to address: racial injustice. Though almost 70% of the players in the NFL are African American, Kaepernick had very few of them willing to support him when the issue was at the forefront of the media. People never want to rock the boat when it comes to their job, right? Wrong. Race, politics, and sports have a long history of being intertwined. From Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympic Games, Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey breaking Baseball’s color barrier, Muhammad Ali refusing to be drafted for Vietnam or Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists as a Black Power salute during an Olympic medal ceremony these are just a few examples of America dealing with similar issues through sports.   

On September 23, Trump spoke at a republican senator’s campaign stating that NFL owners should fire “any son of a bitch that doesn’t respect our flag”. Donald Trump continued to share his opinions on twitter throughout the weekend. Between the tweets and the speech fans, players, and coaches nearly started a riot. The end result was football players, coaches, and team owners kneeling, sitting, locking arms, and one even stretching during the national anthem the following Sunday.

(Jerry Jones and the Texas cowboys September 2017)

Some people are thinking “Now everyone is kneeling this is great, we’re finally getting the protest that Kaepernick wanted.” This could not be further from the truth. Here is the problem: most of the people kneeling are not doing it to protest the social injustice. The NFL is kneeling for the NFL. Players who said they would never disrespect the flag are kneeling. Owners who donated to Trump’s campaign are kneeling. They are not making a political statement, they aren’t protesting anything or anyone besides Donald Trump. They feel disrespected so they did the one thing they knew would get under Trump’s skin the quickest. Kaepernick stated clearly what his protest was when it began, he wanted social justice for people of color. Since then he has lost many fans along with his career. This is no longer about raising awareness of inequality in America, it has become about a piece of fabric, a song if sung in its entirety consists of racist lyrics, and Donald Trump. Kaepernick’s protest has been white washed.

The irony of peoples outrage and argument about Kaepernicks silent peaceful protest being disrespectful to the flag, the anthem, and the military is that the flag and anthem represent the ideals of America being the greatest Country in the World where everyone has all the rights to all the freedoms that are afforded to every citizen under the protection of these symbols. Every military member took an oath, some even lost their life. To defend his right to protest. That is what America, at its best, is supposed to represent: different opinions, beliefs, voices, and ideas all coming together to make a greater country.