In a statement that could serve as an indicator to the kind of ex-president Barack Obama will make, at the G20 summit in China he said that Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem makes him just the latest in a long line of professional athletes who have exercised their constitutional right to make a statement about social issues.
It was a question the president could have easily sidestepped, but seemingly went out of his way to answer. He continued by saying that he has no doubt that the San Francisco 49ers player is sincere and “cares about some real, legitimate issues.”
Adding fuel to the growing fire, U.S. Women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who is white, joined in the protest on Sunday night at a game in Chicago by kneeling in solidarity during the national anthem. She later said that being a gay American helped her empathize with the struggle for minority rights.
“I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties,” Rapinoe told American Soccer Now. “It’s important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this.”
Rapinoe later tweeted, “I am disgusted with [the] way he has been treated and the fans and hatred he has received in all of this. It is overtly racist. ‘Stay in your place black man.’ Just didn’t feel right to me. Need a more substantive conversation around race relations, & the way people of color treated.”
“We are not saying we are not one the greatest countries in world,” she added. “Just need to accept that [we are] not perfect, things are broken. And quite honestly being gay, I have stood with my hand over my heart during the national anthem and felt like I haven’t had my liberties protected, so I can absolutely sympathize with that feeling.”
Rapinoe finished by saying that she would continue her protest at games going forward.
Kaepernick has been heavily criticized since starting his silent protest. However, he’s said it’s not an anti-American gesture but a means to bring attention to racial injustice.
Comedian DL Hughley, who sometimes strikes a more serious tone on matters racial, said in an interview that he couldn’t understand Americans being upset with Kaepernick’s silence. “Most white people are silent all of the time when it comes to race,” he quipped, “which is a big part of the problem.”
The simple fact is, for the most part white Americans — especially sports fans — don’t care to deal with inequality, and in fact are quite comfortable with it, as long as they don’t have to think about it. Kaepernick, by kneeling, is invading their comfort zone. He brought the issue front and center, forcing all of us to deal with it, and with our own prejudices.
Indeed, why should any black person sing the Star Spangled Banner? It was written by a slaveholder (Francis Scott Key) and in the third stanza contains the lines “No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave” — literally celebrating the murder of African-Americans who dared to attempt to escape slavery.
For over 150 years blacks have had to endure symbols of racism such as the Confederate flag, seeing monuments and statues of traitors worshipped in public spaces, and attended schools named for slaveholders and their sympathizers — and one man is saying “enough!”
Rapinoe’s actions, in conjunction with Kaepernick’s persistence, could serve to call out other professional athletes, forcing them to take a stand that could precipitate a long-delayed, much-needed discussion about inequality in America.
In spite of the boos of some fans, other fans are making their feelings know with their dollars: Kaepernick’s jersey is currently the best seller among the 49ers and has shot to being the number five most purchased jersey in the league. This really could get interesting.
[Photo by Brook Ward/Flickr]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com