When I was child my dad would take me on trips to Milwaukee County Stadium to see the Milwaukee Brewers play. The Brewers were actually good back then, so there was always a good-sized crowd. We always sat in the upper deck, as the cheap seats were all that he could afford. This only happened once or twice a year, and other than going to the tavern with my dad on Saturday afternoon, it was really the only time when it was just the two of us.
Dad, being a World War II Navy veteran, always stood arrow straight with his hand on his heart during the national anthem. I always copied him and did the same thing, never questioning why we did it—we just did. I also remember looking around the stadium while the song played and seeing people munching popcorn, drinking beer, sitting down, or in the case of what I assume was a bachelor party, passing a blow up doll around.
Dad has been gone 17 years now, and now I’m an Army veteran who stands at rigid attention with my hand over my heart every time the national anthem is played before my son’s wrestling meets, and before every sporting event we have ever attended together. I see the the same things in the stands that I saw so many years ago: people munching popcorn, drinking beer, sitting down, and yes, at a couple of sporting events, a blow up doll being passed around (bachelor parties need to get a new schtick).
On Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, the Green Bay Packers played a pre-season game against the San Francisco 49ers. The game was on in this Packer fan’s house, and I honestly could not tell you if I saw Colin Kaepernick sitting, standing, or ballet dancing during the national anthem. What I did see is a lot of movement in the stands though: people were munching on popcorn, chugging beer, and sitting down.
In an interview after the game, Colin Kaepernick stated:
"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."
It did not take long for the outrage machine to get cranked up about a black man sitting in protest during the national anthem. Memes have circulated on social media comparing Kaepernick to a Marine with no legs who managed to stand during the national anthem. Others compared him to soldiers who have lost their lives while in fighting in Iraq, or Afghanistan. To quote Jim Wright of Stonekettle Station:
First, as a veteran, I am damned sick and tired of being the justification for douchebaggery.
You don't get to use ME to browbeat others into doing what YOU want.
You don't speak for me. Not as a citizen. Not as a veteran. You don't get to use my service for your own ends. Fuck you.
I could not have said it any better. To compare Kaepernick’s actions to a veteran or active duty service member is a false equivalency. What you or a backup quarterback do during the national anthem does not matter to me. Do not use my service, or anyone else’ service to shame anyone. You have no right to do that. I don’t care if you stand up, sit down, or get funky during the national anthem. It is none of my business, and it shouldn’t be any of yours, either.
What does matter is Kaepernick’s words. They are so important to this story, that they bear repeating.
"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."
Who seems to be protesting Kaepernick’s action the loudest? The very same people who wave the traitorous Confederate flag while proclaiming a deep love for the United States. The same people who latched onto the Gasden flag and twisted its meaning to support an ideology our founding fathers would not recognize. The same people who say “All Lives Matter” and that “Blue Lives Matter” —but how dare you bring up black lives!—are bashing this young man for protesting something that is very wrong in this country.
The same people who want to “Make America Great Again,” as if we are living in some post-apocalyptic wasteland, are the very same ones who are blasting Kaepernick for saying that America isn’t so great for people who have brown skin. The resounding objection from those screaming bloody murder about him sitting down during the national anthem is not that he sat down, but what he said, and how he said it. In short: he is an uppity n*gger.
They won’t say that of course—but it is there. It’s the undertone of every tirade against him. That is what it comes down to. These same people said the same things when Muhammad Ali famously stated:
“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America,” he said at the time. “And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”
Those same people who protested Muhammad Ali in 1964 when he changed his religion to Islam, and when he said the words quoted above in 1966, are the very same people who said he was the greatest when he passed away. He died a celebrated hero. But in 1966, he may as well have been a leper. He lost three of the best years of his life in the ring because of what he said. He would not box again until 1970, and he was stripped of his titles by the very same people who are bashing Colin Kaepernick.
Like Ali, Kaepernick is in a unique position: Because of his celebrity, he has a platform. His voice is louder than many of the voices that are saying the same thing. And his voice should be encouraged. Instead of saying this man is unpatriotic, we should be asking: What can we do to fix this?
The anger and hatred being directed at Kaepernick only prove just how true his words were. The uproar shows that we have a lot further to go if we are ever to have racial equality. The backlash to his action and words says that we have a very long way to go in this country toward racial equality—and that the United States has a lot of racists living within its borders.