Colin Kaepernick Takes a Stand by Taking a Knee
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem are both ways in which we express our patriotism and our appreciation for this country, but is there really justice for ALL?
Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, challenged this notion of what the flag represents throughout this past football season by taking a knee during the National Anthem. By kneeling, he was making a stand against what he felt the flag represented, and exercising his First Amendment rights in doing so. Kaepernick refused to stand because he believes that, “There are a lot of things that are going on that are unjust [that] people aren’t being held accountable for. And that’s something that needs to change. That’s something that this country stands for — freedom, liberty, justice for all. And it’s not happening for all right now” (Kaepernick Interview). Unfortunately, this country that Kaepernick is referring to was built on the exploitation of minorities and Charles Mills accentuates this notion in his book, “The Racial Contract,” by saying “When white people say “Justice,” they mean “Just us.” (black American folk aphorism, Mills 1997: xiv)
Kaepernick has become a very polarizing figure in sports recently and there has been a lot of backlash, particularly from the white population, claiming that he is ungrateful for all that this country has provided for him. And what would that be exactly?
The notion of patriotism is one that has surrounded Kaepernick’s actions as people see it as the ultimate sign of disrespect to those who serve in the military as well those who have died to protect our freedom. For those people who feel personally insulted by Kaepernick due to their military affiliation, the flag does not just represent the military. It represents the country and all of its people. But even though it’s supposed to represent America in its entirety, does that include black people as well?
David Roediger would say the answer is no in his book, “Working Toward Whiteness.” This is because when millions of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe came to America during the late 1800s and early 1900s, they initially struggled to assimilate into its culture. They were seen as an in-between race that was met with resistance and persecution along with other minorities at the time. However, Roediger uses the work of James Baldwin who depicts whiteness as a type of factory. He describes a “blanching process that took generations and a vast amount of coercion” as well as how “joining in acts of racism against people of color made immigrants white over time.” (Roediger 2005: 103) Becoming American or white has been historically rooted in racism towards minorities, namely blacks, which is why black people don’t seem to be included in ideas such as patriotism.
Anyway, who is really free after all? Slavery has ended and Jim Crow Laws have faded away, but black people still seem to be shackled both mentally and physically. James Baldwin makes the point that history continues to reverberate in the present: “My point of view certainly is formed by my history, and it is probable that only a creature despised by history finds history a questionable matter” (Baldwin 1998: 321).
America was founded on white supremacy and white exploitation of blacks, and that is not a history that lends itself kindly to the white image or American culture as Baldwin points out. George Lipsitz also makes the argument in his book “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness,” that this is due to the fact “that white Americans are encouraged to invest in whiteness, to remain true to an identity that provides them with resources, power, and opportunity.” (Lipsitz 1998: vii) This investment leads people to constantly try and sweep issues under the rug and criticize those who speak their mind as a way to protect the benefits they enjoy as a result of their history of oppression and their ongoing, persistent investment in whiteness.
It’s then incredibly ironic because everyone has his or her own idea of what a protest should look like. They want to say there is a better way. A more civilized way. A way to make it less divisive.
Well, I have a public service announcement for those people…
There already is division. There is no right or wrong way to protest, and you are in no position to tell people how to do it. Kaepernick did not kneel expecting everyone to feel good about it. In fact, he didn’t care what you thought about it in the first place. His sole mission was to create a dialogue and to draw awareness to the racial injustice that goes on in the supposed “land of the free, and the home of the brave,” and that’s exactly what he did.
Patriotism is not everyone sitting around draped in red, white, and blue, getting drunk and grilling burgers outside on the Fourth of July while watching the fireworks. A patriot is “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.” (“Patriot”) So why does Kaepernick not fit into our definition of a patriot? He is supporting our country by calling out its shortcomings, but we quickly see that anyone who calls out the problem often times is considered part of the problem.
Kaepernick has ignited a national conversation regarding race and he has risked his career in doing so. Despite being a skilled quarterback in the NFL he has remained a free agent while far less qualified quarterbacks have been getting signed.
Oh, and although I never said it explicitly I’m sure you could've guessed that, yes, Colin Kaepernick is black…or at least he’s perceived and treated as black despite having a white mother making him just as much white as he is black. This is due to the one drop rule, created by whites as an attempt to keep their race “pure” and expand the oppression of minorities to being anyone who was not purely white.
This all begs the question…if Kaepernick was a white man kneeling during the National Anthem, would we admire his courageousness? Would we laud his bravery?
Works Cited
"Patriot." Google Search. Google, n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.