Before I even begin, I feel like I should probably state that what I am about to say is probably not going to be all that popular. Although when I first heard about it, I shared the same sentiments that so many others seem to have. How disgusting. That is absolutely disrespectful. What a jerk! I can’t believe he would do something so absurd. Clearly, I am speaking of Colin Kaepernick not standing for the Star Spangled Banner. I was appalled just like so many others. In shock that a man that was making millions of dollars in an American sport would choose to sit out during the National Anthem. However, over the last week I have had time to think not to mention countless Facebook posts, news articles, and blog posts to read on the subject. Apparently, this is the hottest subject in the world right now.
As I read the countless hateful posts and misguided articles I found myself being more and more disgusted with everybody’s reactions than I was to the act itself. People calling for him to be fired, calling him a traitor, telling him to leave the country, calling him a spoiled brat, and of course insulting his skills as a quarterback. So much hatred pointed towards one man that simply chose to make a stand by, well, sitting down, actually. I don’t agree with what he did. I personally see the “National Anthem” as a chance to honor the men and women that have served this country and fought to protect the people within it. In his statement he 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.” While I understand his sentiment, I would argue that you stand for the flag and honor this country for what it stands for. It isn’t perfect and it doesn’t always uphold the ideals that it claims, but it stands for something great and as a country we should be striving to be that again. Our country is run by people and people make mistakes, people get greedy, people act in their own interest, and people often make the wrong choices. However, the oppression and violence in this country is not symbolic of what our country stands for, but rather the state of some people within this country. So, in my opinion, you stand in unity with the rest of the country and hope for even the briefest of moments we will all come together under the ideals of what the country was formed upon. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
However, this is how I see things and it is important that I understand it is just my opinion. It is my right as a citizen of this country to make my own choices and speak out based on my opinions. I have to remember that everyone else has that same right, even when they don’t agree with me, which means Colin Kaepernick was completely within his right to do what he did. He isn’t a traitor by any means; he didn’t sell us out to our enemy. He simply stated that he didn’t agree with the present state of this country. I was told at an early age that a man has to stand up for what he believes. I may not agree with how he did it, but this is still exactly what Kaepernick did. He saw injustice and decided he had to speak about it. He had to do something to draw attention to it, regardless if other people were willing to stand with him or not.
He is not going to go down in history as a Benedict Arnold. Unless, of course, he left that game went straight to the Russian Embassy and sold them top grade military secrets that he stole during an elaborate Pentagon heist, but I don’t think that is very likely. People say that he was disrespectful to the people that served in the military and, to an extent, I agree. However, I also think that, if you are telling people that they can’t exercise their right to protest, if their beliefs don’t align with yours, then you are being just as disrespectful to the military that fought and died to protect those rights. You can’t claim this is a free country without also recognizing that those freedoms are extended to all of the citizens of this country even if you don’t agree with them. He chose to exercise his right to peaceful protest. Nobody was hurt; he didn’t cause a riot. He didn’t speak words of division or hatred. He simply sat down during the National Anthem and said he couldn’t show pride for a country where he saw so much oppression and injustice taking place. It really isn’t all that unreasonable. We just don’t like the way he chose to protest.
Another popular sentiment I have read is that Colin is mixed, raised by white parents and being paid millions of dollars to play a game and therefore apparently he has no right to speak about injustice or oppression. Since when do you have to be the oppressed to speak out against oppression. Where is it written that if you haven’t experienced injustice you can’t have an opinion? If this is the case then all of the animal rights activist should be shut down since, they are all humans. It is in no way ridiculous for him to say that he is bothered by these things. It doesn’t show that he is spoiled or just seeking attention. Actually, it shows that he is human and is concerned with other humans. Maybe we should all try that out sometime. Moses wasn’t at all dealing with the same hardships that the Jewish slaves were encountering when he stood up for the slave and killed the Egyptian soldier. In fact, he was living a lavish life, with all the benefits of being the son of the pharaoh’s daughter. However, he saw injustice being done to his people and could no longer stand for it. He did something about it. When you read that story do you sit back and think “wow Moses you are such a spoiled brat! You should have just sat back and enjoyed living with royalty.”
In just the last couple days, I have started to see more pictures and stories posted about him wearing socks with a cartoon pig wearing a cop hat. While I will say, perhaps it wasn’t the most well thought out choice, in the end they are just socks. I put on socks everyday and I have never once thought about what socks I am putting on. They are clean and they match; that is all the information I need. This man sat down during the national anthem on national TV and now you think he is trying to be sneaky with his protest? My guess was he has absolutely no alternative motives for buying or wearing those socks other than they were socks and he needed socks for practice. If anything, I would say give him a hard time because he was wearing socks with pictures on them. I know that is some crazy trend right now, but personally, the idea that my socks need some added pizzazz is insane. They are socks; they go on my feet so I don’t sweat all over my shoes. I don’t need them to be fashion statements. I will stick to plain white socks and be happy about it. If he had been wearing those socks a month ago, would you have cared? I’m betting not. You may have thought it was kind of funny or showing his quirky personality, but I doubt you would be getting upset by it. He is a hot story right now and the media saw a chance to fan the flames. That’s all there is to it, and so many people took that bait hook, line and sinker. You know who else portrayed cartoon pigs as cops? Looney Tunes! Yep, that’s right Porky Pig was depicted as a cop on more than one occasion. Are we going to boycott Warner Brothers next? Demand that they issue a public apology? I doubt it we love Looney Tunes, so we let it slide. We would have let Colin Kaepernick slide, too, except we don’t really like him all that much right now.
The last few years I have seen lots of people talking about our government and how they are over stepping their boundaries. They are infringing on our rights. Taking rights away from the people and chipping away at the freedom this country promises. Most recently, as a cigar smoker I have been reading about the FDA regulating cigars. These regulations will cripple the business and the government says it is all in the name of protecting us from ourselves. Another hot topic is gun control. We don’t like it when the government moves in and starts to tell us how we get to live our lives, how we get to think and what freedoms we can enjoy and what we can’t. Yet, when another citizen does something we don’t like we all seem to jump up at the same time and demand that something be done about it. We don’t like the way you used your freedom, so you should just get out of our country; that doesn’t sound like freedom at all. Actually, it sounds an awful lot like oppression.
I’m not saying that you don’t have the right to speak against him. I’m not saying that you have to agree with him. Honestly, I’m not even trying to change your opinion on what he did. I’m simply stating the same freedom that gives you the right to say that he shouldn’t have done that is the same exact freedom that gave him the right to do it. I’m stating that we all need to respect each other as humans and that the name calling needs to stop. The hatred and venom that has been blasted all over Facebook is nothing short of embarrassing. I thought we were all adults, yet we are acting like middle-schoolers when the teacher steps out of the classroom. Throwing out derogatory statements just because we can, with absolutely no regard to the person we are throwing them at or to how it makes us look. Let’s show a little respect, not only to our country, but also to each other.
So true. So many Americans only tolerant of opinions and actions we agree with. And that’s not American at all!