One knee sent a message. One knee killed for ignoring it.
When Colin Kaepernick took a knee before football games, he made his reason clear.
“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.”
And he showed his commitment to his action by stating,
“This is not something that I am going to run by anybody. I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. … If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”
He could not have been plainer.
A football player, who had something to say and was in a position to say it, quietly knelt during the National Anthem before NFL football games, and when he first did it he was behind his teammates and close to the Gatorade table.
He made no noise. He made no attention getting gestures. He did not bring attention to himself. He neither looted nor set anything ablaze.
He only got attention when someone published a picture of him and made the quiet loud.
After that, he knelt quietly.
His protest was peaceful.
There had been a number of unnecessary shootings of unarmed Black men by rogue police officers, and no one seemed to care. It was time to at least begin the discussion.
That discussion, however, was not going to be comfortable, or even wanted by those who could do something.
Inaction would be too obvious, so the dialogue had to be changed.
Ignoring what the man who took a knee publicly stated was his motivation , others in the While majority hijacked his action, ignored his reason, and changed it to what could help them not address the issue.
The major claim was that his action was anti-American, apparently because the unnecessary killing of Black men was an American thing.
Trump was the first to misrepresent the reason for taking a knee most obviously so he could appeal to the racist members of his base by claiming this was an act of disrespect for our flag and our troops, many who are Black and at least one who was a victim of a shooting , while unintentionally revealing his own racism, as he ignored a need to address an issue about the disparate treatment of Black men in so doing.
“Wow, NFL first game ratings are way down over an already really bad last year comparison. If the players stood proudly for our Flag and Anthem, and it is all shown on broadcast, maybe ratings could come back?”
Trump even opined,
“I think it’s personally not a good thing, I think it’s a terrible thing. And, you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try, it won’t happen.”
Apparently Kaepernick should have found a country that does not defend the killing of unarmed Black men or might, at least, be willing to discuss the problem and propose solutions because Trump was making it clear this country wouldn’t.
Trump made it about patriotism, money, stadium attendance, and TV ratings.
In 2017 in Alabama, Trump offered this advice to N.F.L. owners on how to handle players who take a knee during the national anthem,
“Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired. He’s fired!”
He followed this with a tweet saying,
“If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
“NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN. Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S.”
No discussion of the issue was taking place.
When several Philadelphia Eagles showed their displeasure with this usurpation of the reason for taking a knee by saying they would not go to the White House for an event to honor their Super Bowl win, Trump called off the event, and, continuing to refuse to address the underlying reason, kept up his misrepresentation and involving the military by saying at another event,
“We will proudly be playing the National Anthem and other wonderful music celebrating our Country today at 3 P.M. The White House, with the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus. Honoring America! NFL, no escaping to Locker Rooms!”
The Anthem and the bands who played it were weaponized to keep the distraction going.
And to create a useful visual, Pence walked out of a football game in Indianapolis when about a dozen San Francisco 49ers took a knee during the anthem, and Trump captioned it by tweeting,
“I asked VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and Second Lady Karen.”
They had proudly stood for racism.
He did what he could to promote the belief that any NFL player who took a knee was against the troops, while completely dismissing the It is very difficult to diagnose and can vary in the severity of the pain. order generic viagra pdxcommercial.com However, it is important to note that not all scenarios from diabetes will demonstrate being diabetic indications price tadalafil tablets unless of course typically the diabetes is the deposit of glucose in the blood. generic viagra cheap You cannot escape the aging process. Thirdly, Mast obtain at store buy cheap levitra Mood oil is very well-known herbal erection oil that can help to regain control to heighten sexual power for achieving complete satisfaction in sexual intercourse. fact that they were against deadly racial disparity.
Trump’s claim made it possible to exercise some pseudo-patriotism and in the name of the troops allow the disparity to go unaddressed.
Basically, for four years nothing was done, no discussion even held, and more Black men were killed, and now we see the chaos in the country, a chaos that could possibly have been prevented.
In the four years Since Kaepernick took a knee, and during the four years the issue was politicized mainly by those who did not experience the problem and opposed a discussion,
1.Natosha “Tony” McDade, 2. George Floyd, 3. Yassin Mohamed, 4. Finan H. Berhe, 5. Sean Reed, 6. Steven Demarco Taylor, 7. Ariane McCree, 8. Terrance Franklin, 9. Miles Hall, 10. Darius Tarver, 11. William Green. 12. Samuel David Mallard, 13. Kwame “KK” Jones, 14. De’von Bailey, 15. Christopher Whitfield, 16. Anthony Hill, 17. De’Von Bailey, 18. Eric Logan, 19. Jamarion Robinson, 20. Gregory Hill Jr, 21. JaQuavion Slaton, 22. Ryan Twyman, 23. Brandon Webber, 24. Jimmy Atchison, 25. Willie McCoy, 26. Emantic “EJ” Fitzgerald Bradford Jr, 27. D’ettrick Griffin, 28. Jemel Roberson, 29. DeAndre Ballard, and 30. Botham Shem Jean
were killed for a yearly average of 7.5 per year.
And now with the death of George Floyd a limit has been reached intensified by its having been recorded from a number of angles and the delay in any action being taken.
The death and its aftermath could very well have been prevented if action had been taken to prevent the previous deaths, or at least something had been done no matter how weak.
Unfortunately, but predictably, as quick as he was to react to and hijack Kaepernick’s taking a knee for his own political gain, there has been very miniscule response to the death of George Floyd as Trump concentrates more on the results of it, the demonstrations, some of which have been hijacked.
Over the weekend with no events scheduled other than going to Florida to watch the rocket launch, meeting with Attorney General William Barr, a video teleconference with governors and law-enforcement officials, and lunch with Vice President Pence, Trump made an official statement about the death of George Floyd that included mention of his call to the Floyd family.
In the formal remarks this past weekend, he began with a unifying message starting with,
“I understand the pain that people are feeling. We support the right of peaceful protesters, and we hear their pleas,”
a statement that ignored his dismissal of Kaepernick’s earlier right for peaceful protest and the pleas he should have heard, before politicizing it with,
“The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters, and anarchists. The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting businesses, and burning down buildings.”
Ironically, blind to his earlier reaction to Kaepernick and his not addressing his own fault in ignoring what the taking a knee was bringing attention to, he indicted himself by saying,
“Those making excuses or justifications for violence are not helping the downtrodden, but delivering new anguish and new pain.”
Would that include those who distract from the real issue?
He declared, again, ironically,
“Every citizen in every community has the right to be safe in their workplace, safe in their homes, and safe in our city streets.”
And, although he had tried to defend the marchers in Charlottesville by claiming that many were good people, he put his bigotry on display by adding,
“Radical-left criminals, thugs, and others all throughout our country and throughout the world will not be allowed to set communities ablaze. We won’t let it happen. It harms those who have the least. And we will be protecting those who have the least.
This is the sacred right of all Americans that I am totally determined to defend and will defend. My administration will always stand against violence, mayhem, and disorder.”
But he will observably do whatever he can to white-wash incidences of violence, mayhem, and disorder.
Like with COVID-19, Trump ignored the problem of Black men being killed by rogue cops while demonizing those peacefully demonstrating for some action on the issue until it too exploded while he attempts, as he did with the first taking of a knee, to make it about politics and himself.
He has tweeted,
“Sleepy Joe Biden’s people are so Radical Left that they are working to get the Anarchists out of jail, and probably more. Joe doesn’t know anything about it, he is clueless, but they will be the real power, not Joe. They will be calling the shots! Big tax increases for all, Plus!”
He has quoted a segregationist governor from the Civil Rights era,
“When the looting starts, the shooting starts”
and warned demonstrators that if they got too close to the White House, they would face the “most ominous weapons”.
Over the weekend I had some pictures pop up on my Facebook feed. I understand the intent, but I wonder if anyone notices the irony.
In the picture there are police officers taking a knee in solidarity with those genuinely demonstrating against racial disparity, and this is good, especially knowing the majority of police officers are good people and that only the rogues are responsible for the unjustifiable deaths. It is a positive image in these troubling times.
Like most, I am impressed by the photos, but I wonder how things might have been different, making the police taking a knee unnecessary, if when Kaepernick did it, people didn’t make it about something it wasn’t about and had dealt with the real issue.
He deserves a big, guilt filled apology.