NFL is coming into it's own after a shaky start on the field for offenses over the first 3 weeks. The quality of the games is now again where it needs to be. The Packers-Cowboys game this weekend was even better than advertised. Watching Aaron Rodger play QB is a unique experience. Nobody quite conducts himself in the field with his confidence and swagger, not even Brady or Manning. But let's get back to the play on the field later. First, the topic thats sweeping the league. For a couple of weeks, the league has been all about the anthem protests as Trump stirred the pot in the deep south. The issue is still lingering on. As most of you know by now, he called the protesting players "SOBs" and asked the owners to fire them on the spot. He also asked the fans in the stadium to walkout and boycott these games if players kneeled and protested. VP Mike Pence actually walked out of the Niners @ Colts game yesterday in his home state of Indiana in what appears now to be a well-orchestrated stunt. But then again, thats what politicians do best!
There is no question what Trump did was unacceptable and offensive. First off, you don't use that kind of language as the president of the United States. That's not leadership nor is it classy. Secondly, it was a divisive ploy at a time when the country is already dangerously divided. And he was being totally insensitive to a part of our citizenry he is supposed to represent. The predominantly Black athletes who are protesting are not fighting for more sugar in their coffee for God's sake! They are concerned about a serious life-or-death issue in our country and their community. For the President to be so flippant about it tells them that he just doesn't care. Thats really the last message our President should be sending to anybody in our country, let alone an entire race. What he did is all bad and that's even before we get in to whether his message is right or wrong. His stand is clearly wrong in my opinion, but he shouldn't have inserted himself into this issue in this manner regardless. Sometimes in life, right and wrong are overrated and perception is reality. Thats the most interesting part of this for me.
That last part is also why I am not a big fan of the flag protests themselves in the first place. You maybe surprised to hear that after reading the first 2 paragraphs. Colin Kaepernick's actions do not upset me one bit and I am totally onboard with the social cause he is espousing. I couldn't agree with him more on issues of systemic racism and criminal justice reform, which is what these protests are supposed to be about. And I respect and want to protect his constitutional right to protest peacefully. None of this offends me personally, not one bit. With all that said, I think disrespecting the flag and the national anthem is just bad strategy for a protest. Socio-political change in a democracy is fundamentally a fight for people's hearts and minds. I don't see how you win over people by disrespecting the anthem and the flag. Lets also be clear on one thing. The players who kneel are of course disrespecting the flag and the anthem. They have the right to do it and I do get where they are coming from. It doesn't upset me personally, but let's go ahead and call a spade a spade. I stand for the anthem only out of respect and not because I want to stretch my legs or anything like that. So, when I don't stand for the anthem, I am refusing to respect it, if not outright disrespecting it.
By the same token, Kap and these athletes are absolutely NOT disrespecting the military. I have no doubt about that. There is a straight line from the idea of us standing for the anthem to respect for the anthem. There is also a straight line in my mind from us standing for the anthem to the flag just because the anthem is not a physical entity and the flag is always around to be that physical representation of nationhood. But the line people draw from respecting the anthem to respect and love for the military is more of an implicit and imagined relationship. It's convenient for some politicians on the right to draw that line and paint the Kaps of the world as anti-military, but even for some normal people, the flag and the anthem have a symbiotic relationship, if not a symbolic representation of the nation's military. We can sit here and debate whether that connection is logical and real or not, but like I mentioned already, sometimes in life, perception is reality. Thats exactly why I think this is not the best form of protest. Instead of debating the fundamental issues it's supposed to highlight, we are all caught up in these philosophical nuances and emotional interpretations about our flag and the military. None of this is coming anywhere close to solving the original issue at hand.
Call me an optimist or call me naive, but I do believe the criminal justice issues at hand can be solved from within the system. It's not going to be easy or simple, but we can achieve the progress we want if we have the right leadership and work tirelessly. Thats why I don't like protesting the flag for it. To me, going after the flag is an extreme form of protest. You do it if you are running a separatist movement, which clearly is not the goal here, or if you just want to shock the system and shake things up. This protest clearly has shaken things up and of course the President's comments has resurrected it and made it worse. But I would rather work within the system for these types of issues. Of course, I am not a Black man in America and I have no idea what it means to walk a mile in those shoes. If Black America feels completely disappointed in the system and betrayed by it, I totally get it and who am I to argue against those sentiments? But I am just not there myself yet in terms of shocking the system. If that was the goal, this protest has definitely achieved that. But it has also made a lot of enemies and distracted us from the core issues. Thats to be expected when you go after symbols of nationalism and thats why I am not a big fan of this form of protest. This protest is starting interesting conversations about individual rights and first amendment etc., but it's not hitting the sweet spot in my opinion.
There is also this argument that these protests are always unpopular when they happen, but they start a movement that wins people over eventually and America embraces the protestors and their ideas later. Mohammad Ali, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos are examples of this phenomenon, though they lived in a different time and place. To that I say it's too simplistic to assume that this is what is going to happen to Kap and these protests as well. Also, we are the best marketing people in the World and nobody keeps up appearances like America. I can totally imagine us as a nation celebrating Kap as a hero and placing his picture in a stamp 30 years from now while also not giving an inch on the criminal justice or racial reform. Lets not assume that respecting and recognizing Kap 30 years from now is progress. Social change and progress is typically engineered by smart and strategic leaders and movements. Leaders like Gandhi and MLK Jr were not great just because they were on the right side of history and morality, but they also knew how to fight, when to protest, when to lie low, who to go after, etc. etc. They were brilliant and strategic leaders.
Of course, it's a totally unfair comparison to put Kap along with those giants, but my point is, not all protests are made equal and what we have on our hands now may not be effective. When Trump brought this issue back into focus, many owners ripped him and supported their players. This brought the players and the owners closer than ever for a moment. There was a lot of show of solidarity and holding hands, though I never understood what holding hands actually meant. I did like Jerry Jones and the Cowboys kneeling together as a team before the anthem to show solidarity for the cause and the standing during the anthem to show respect to the anthem. I thought that made sense. But now, Jones has come out and said he won't let players who don't stand for the anthem play for him and is bossing them around. All of that so-called camaraderie between the owners and players is out the door just like that. The Dolphins are also instituting some form of "no kneeling" rules. These developments must warm the cockles of Trump's heart. Basically, things are now beginning to move sideways. Where actually are we headed and are these protests being effective? I have no idea and I have serious doubts. Only time will tell. In the meantime, let's hope for the best and keep working towards eliminating systemic racism.
