The Patriotic Protest

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

-- Elie Wiesel

Talking about Colin Kaepernick is like discussing religion, politics, and sexual preference all rolled into one dialog. It's incendiary, and it's probably wise to stay away from such conversations; but, occasionally, we allow ourselves to be dragged into the dialog, not to incite, but to make a vain attempt to bring more clarity to a way-too-muddied row. There are several points to be made here, and I'm going to start by addressing those people who claim that Kaepernick has made no meaningful contribution to his cause.

This, of course, could not be further from the truth, and, honestly, a single search targeting reliable sources can provide all the information necessary to eradicate this bit of ignorance: up to the time of this writing, Kaepernick has donated a million dollars to charities, just as he promised. Further, he's not stopping there: he, together with his new sponsor, Nike, is postured to continue the donations and step up his work.

Kaepernick has also inspired others to make contributions to the cause he is championing. Warning, if you don't like Colin Kaepernick or what he stands for, then you're probably going to have to re-think your relationship with the following people: Meek Mill, Joey BaDa$$, Nick Cannon, Chris Brown, Jhene Aiko, T. I., Serena Williams, Snoop Dogg, Stephen Curry, Jesse Williams, Kevin Durant, Alecia Keys, Eric Reid, J. Cole, Yara Shahidi, Angela Rye, Michael Bourn, Hannibal Burres, NAS, Trey Songz, Quavo, Steve Stoute, Zendaya, Kobie Bryant, Jaylen Brown, Sean Combs, Nessa, Dr. Dre, and DJ Khaled. Let's add to this list a whole slew of people and organizations that continue to support Kaepernick: lots of NFL players (some of whom continue to kneel), lots of basketball players (including Lebron James), lots of veterans (including me), and lots of police officers.

But what about his right to free speech? In my opinion, Kaepernick’s first amendment rights are null and void when he's representing his employer, and any policy at the time that clearly stated that all players must stand for the national anthem could legally allow a penalty for such action. This, however, was not the case. The NFL itself stated when his protests started that players are encouraged but not required to stand during the anthem. Even so, the team could turn to custom and culture and invoke some expected behavior clause, and to violate an implicit code of conduct could lead to the very same penalty. Did Kaepernick understand this? Of course he did. He knew very well that kneeling during the national anthem would cause problems for him. He knew he might lose his job and his endorsements. But he was willing to give that up to shine a light on a major problem.

Think about that. He probably knew he was going to lose his job. But there was one thing of which he was absolutely certain: he wasn't going to get prosecuted for his behavior. Do you know why? Because as screwed up as this country sometimes is, we have a system and a military that takes decisive action to protect its citizens. So he kneeled. For the national anthem. He kneeled because that was the only way he knew how to stand up against a form of tyranny that has hit epidemic proportions in some parts of our country.

I understand why he kneeled. He did the right thing (you’ll understand why in a moment). He felt he had no choice. He felt duty-bound. So he took the route that turned out to be the most impactful. In his own words, this was his thinking:

I will stand again when "that flag represents what it's supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way it's supposed to."

But what does our flag represent? Well, for Kaepernick, the flag is supposed to represent equal protection for all citizens regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation. Equal. Protection. Only a truly mad person would think that all Americans have equal protection under our flag. In fact, this country has a brutal history of not treating all of its citizens and natives fairly and equally.

• Look at what we did to the native Americans
• It took us until 1865 to abolish slavery
• It took us until 1920 to give women the right to vote
• It took us until 1964 to kill segregation

And the problems that still exist …

• The LGBTQ community has no real protections and basically lives as a social subclass in the United States
• Legions of military veterans are homeless
• Even given (2), there should not be a single homeless child on our streets
• We are 31st in the world in life expectancy (right behind Costa Rica)
• Among the richest nations, we are 20th in infant mortality
• As of 2015, our students ranked 24th in science literacy (Singapore is number one)
• As of 2015, our students ranked 39th in math literacy (Singapore is number one)
• As of 2015, our students ranked 24th in reading (Singapore is number one)
• Among high income nations, we have the worst healthcare
• Among high income nations, we have the most expensive healthcare

Each one of the aforementioned metrics represents a stain on our flag. We are by far the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. To have such issues is simply not acceptable. Because this is our reality, however, this is what our flag represents. It represents economic disparity. It cares not about the social persecution of those who identify as LGBTQ. It does not acknowledge the thousands of veterans who walk our streets homeless every single day, nor does it give a damn about the children who walk beside them. It represents academic mediocrity, and it simply does not care about your cost or access to affordable healthcare. To acknowledge those blemishes and not move toward remedy is the unpatriotic action, not kneeling for the national anthem.

The flag of the United States of America is in distress. Kneel for the anthem? Hell, if it were up to me, I'd fly every one of them upside down. Our flag has stains that were put there by our own country. Us. Like the flag, the very fabric of our nation's belief system, our capacity to accel at all things, and our compassion for those in need is becoming worn and threadbare. And the stains are spreading. Colin Kaepernick did something about it: he kneeled during the national anthem so he might clean up one of the spots desecrating it. No matter how you cut it, that's a patriotic action.