“The Right Way to Protest”

Over the last couple of weeks we have seen various commentators (and commentaries) about how wrong NFL players are to “disrespect the flag.” As a part of a campaign rally in Alabama the President claimed that they were ungrateful SOBs who should be fired for not standing during the singing or playing of the National Anthem. Lost in all of the kneeling, sitting, and locking of arms during the anthem is the man who started it all…Colin Kaepernick AND the cause for which he took a knee.

Last year Colin Kaepernick was a quarterback on the San Francisco 49ers. He began taking a knee during the singing/playing of the National Anthem to call attention to the rampant injustice in the US that repeatedly allows unarmed African Americans to be shot by police officers and most of those officers never being convicted of murder, manslaughter or even wrongful death. By the end of the season, Kaepernick was let go and NO other team picked him up. Some argued that Kaepernick was not “good enough” to be on a team. Kaepernick who recently took his team to the Super Bowl was “not good enough.” And, while experts can disagree I think Kaepernick is better than a number of current quarterbacks. Indeed, even if no team thought he was good enough to start, he is at least good enough to be a back up on some team. I can only surmise that Kaepernick is not on a team because the NFL owners have decided he is too publicly toxic to sign. And, I assume that they have colluded to insure that no one broke the code that said, “Do not sign Kaepernick!”

One of the things we hear over and over about Kaepernick and now the players who are protesting is what they are doing is “not the right way to protest.” So now I ask, “What is the RIGHT way to protest?” The players taking a knee are not disrupting the anthem. They are not causing a scene. They are expressing their Constitutional right not to stand during the anthem. At my university last year 2 of our basketball players decided to step off of the line away from the rest of their teammates during the singing/playing of the National Anthem. Again, it was not disruptive. It was a silent protest and yet at one game I heard a fan yell, “[Player’s name] step up to the line!” The fan disrupted the anthem, not the player!

If kneeling quietly before the anthem is not the right way to protest what is the right way? There has never been a protest movement led by Black people that was considered “right.” Nineteenth Century abolitionists were not protesting “the right way.” The protests of Black people throughout the South was not considered “the right way.” When Martin Luther King, Jr. led protests in Montgomery, Selma, Chicago, and cities across the nation it was not considered “the right way.” When John Carlos and Tommie Smith protested at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico it was not considered “the right way.” When Muhammad Ali protested the Vietnam War it was not considered “the right way.” When Black people in the US staged protests on behalf of Apartheid in South Africa and were being hauled off to jail it was not considered “the right way.” None of these protests were considered “the right way” but it turns out every last one of these protestors was on the right side of history. Protests against big, powerful systems are almost always seen as “wrong.” But history almost always proves them right.

Colin Kaepernick is right! He was being respectful in his protest and he is paying the price for it. Indeed, a recent post on my social media wall says, “Racism is so American that when we protest racism the average American assumes we’re protesting America!” Thus, if the folks who claim that Black folks are not protesting “the right way” were honest with themselves they would admit that they think the only right way to protest is to be White!

Stay Black & Smart!

“The Land of the Free…The Home of the Brave?”

Over the past few weeks the US news media and blogosphere have been flooded by the news that San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem AND that his refusal was linked to his strong feelings about the way Black people continue to live under oppression in this society—specifically police brutality. Reaction to Kaepernick was swift and brutal. To be fair “Kaep” has had his supporters but rarely do his critics address the context and bigger picture Kaepernick is attempting to expose.

One question that has surfaced is “Why is he doing this? He’s a football player he should just play ball.” That kind of thinking reflects the “minstrelsy” we demand of the Black body. Just entertain us. Do not think. Do not speak…unless you are speaking to tell us how grateful you are to be here and how thankful you are to please us. The main reason I believe Kaepernick is protesting the anthem (and by proxy the nation) is because no one will listen to a retail store clerk (or any other no name citizen)! And, to his credit Kaepernick has pledged $1million to helping organizations fighting racial injustice.

Using celebrity to advance a cause (particularly an “unpopular” cause) is not a new thing. Artists like Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, and Bono have stood before the world for causes they believe in. Black athletes have treaded an unsure road because they do not have the protection of Whiteness or wealth (yes, they have income but rarely money to pass along inter-generationally) to fall back on. Paul Robeson lost almost everything for being willing to stand up against US oppression. His passport was lifted (and he made his living singing around the world). Rutgers removed him from its athletic hall of fame (despite being an outstanding football player). There were venues in the US that would not permit him to perform in them. The all American icon, Jackie Robinson wrote in his autobiography in 1972, “Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first world series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey’s drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; (emphasis added) I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.”

Perhaps the most memorable athletes’ protest against the US came at the 1968 Mexico Olympics when Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood upon the medal stand bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists as the anthem was played. At that moment everyone forgot that Smith had run a record-breaking 200-meter race. They were largely ostracized for their stance and it was not until the 21^st century that people recognized their courage and the rightness of their position. In 2008 both men were awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs.

Of course we cannot forget the courage of Muhammad Ali who refused to participate in the Vietnam War. Because of it he lost his livelihood. He could not box and the 3 plus years he lost were in the prime of his career. Today we celebrate Ali as “The Greatest” but minimize the way he was punished for taking a principled stand. In each of these cases the media has trotted out Black “surrogates” to speak against the Black athletes.

Athletes are as human as anyone else. What is interesting is how quickly the powers that be are to forgive drug addicts, rapists, batterers, “serial daddies” (as in men who have multiple “baby mamas” without paying child support) and others. But let someone stand up and point out racism and inequity and we decide that she or he is not worthy of citizenship. Kaepernick is demonstrating what is allegedly the greatness of democracy—that you can hold and express opinions different from others. The “my country—love it or leave it” crowd are dangerous to civil society. Their lack of criticality is what has landed us in this particular presidential election cycle.

For those who argue that “there is another way to do it” I will remind you that Milwaukee has been languishing with a lack of adequate jobs and education opportunities. Black people are paying taxes and voting just like White people. But who wants to pay for people to ignore, demonize, and brutalize them?

When the Sherman Park community erupted in civil disobedience a few weeks ago the Governor and his people decided it was time to infuse some money into Milwaukee and create some jobs. So, “the other way” rarely produced results. Unfortunately, it takes people’s willingness to “get mad” and “tear some stuff up” to get attention. And sometimes it takes simply refusing to stand to show your righteous indignation to injustice.

Stay Black & Smart!