Missing the Point
Colin Kaepernick has more people standing with him, but are they standing for the same thing?
Because of Donald Trump’s incendiary remarks against football players kneeling for the national anthem, tons of new players have taken a knee or shown some form of solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and their teammates. Owners made statements defending their players and their right to political protest. Trump’s call for owners to fire those that kneel has led to sweeping backlash from the world of sports and politics (outside his own fervent supporters). A side effect of all this has been the dilution of Kaepernick’s message and the whole point he was protesting. This moment has illustrated how unprepared our institutions are in addressing Donald Trump and the more systemic issues that led to his rise and the injustice in the country.
It’s obvious to say that conservatives across the spectrum have done everything in their power to make the protest about anything but police brutality. They have tried to center it around the flag and the troops. The closest they ever get to addressing the issue is when they use the age-old retort of “black on black crime”, inserting politics into sports, and questioning how multi-millionaires could be talking about privilege or inequity. The reason why they center America as a country in response to the protest rather than address the issue at hand is because this is fundamentally about preserving America’s image and façade. They would much rather live in ignorance and simply maintain the systems and reality that already benefit them, rather than be uncomfortable with the horrors they have let occur or actively created. Their array of grievances and retorts hold no value other than noise in the wind, growing into a cacophony only meant to obscure the fact America is indeed rotten at the core.
There’s also conservatives that have tried to distance themselves from Trump, even though their differences are largely aesthetic. Senator Ben Sasse, who’s been on a tour trying to brand himself as a sensible conservative, concern trolled NFL players tweeting:
Ben, who just sat there as Bill Maher used the n-word in an interview with him, has thoughts about how to best combat institutional racism in our society. This same senator has not spoken about police brutality, has not proposed any sort of legislation that would seek to combat it, and his opposition to Trump overall has been in word only like every other “Never Trump” Republican. His concerns have nothing to do with the substance of why any player is protesting, but simply trying to use dead soldiers as a shield for American institutions he cares about. He pivots to talking about how in reality Trump wants people to protest because it gives him attention and he gets to claim Ben’s precious flag. Joe Scarborough, #Resistance pundit, made a similar point about how player’s protesting helps Trump.
Joe and Ben both agree with Trump in essence. They don’t want players to kneel, because respecting America matters more to them than the critical issues athletes are protesting about. They want to make sure Trump doesn’t get to claim the flag because they know everyone sees Trump as bad and don’t want American institutions to be caught in association. Trump presents a danger to these conservatives because he could lift the veil and reveal the true heart of what they believe in and the inevitable conclusions. They fear a divisiveness that rightfully puts Trump and all the forces that created him, that they themselves contributed to, all on one side. Trump threatens to expose their entire project, and that is their greatest concern.
The response from the sports world has been mixed. While more than 200 players across the NFL joined the protest started by Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee on Sunday, there were also gestures that sought to straddle the line between showing solidarity and not expressing any substantive political message. Owners like Shahid Khan and Dan Snyder, stood beside players with arms locked, while also giving money to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Statements from several organizations sought to be as vague as possible, only the Seattle Seahawks mentioning that this issue is fundamentally about police brutality and racial injustices. The emphasis on unity by media and teams alike makes their view clear. For many of these owners, it’s more about making sure there’s no divide, rather than shedding a light on injustice. This is about maintaining the existing order. The obscurity of what these teams are standing in unity on is deliberate. It’s easy to demonstrate like this, in a moment like this. It’s easy to say that Trump said something bad and be briefly against him. What’s much more difficult, but what’s needed, is a critique of the systems that got us to this point. Unity is fruitless when there’s no justice. Peace has no value when it’s only value is making the advantaged feel secure while the marginalized suffer.
These same owners participate in a blackballing of Colin Kaepernick even as they feign being offended or disappointed by Donald Trump’s comments. Even players like Cam Newton and Drew Brees took lukewarm stances of their own, just two of many who could only go so far as disagreeing with Trump’s comments of firing players, but not truly standing in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. By saying nothing of substance and taking part in this demonstration, they try to credit themselves and hang the mission accomplished banner. It shows how ingrained institutional racism is in our society when some players and owners still take a neutral or superficial stance in even a moment like this.
Cris Colinsworth, broadcaster for Sunday Night Football, said before the game that Trump should apologize, but also that players and Trump want a “better America.” Then he spoke about how he should invite a group of ten players to the White House, because they would find common ground and a way to move forward. How was this seen as even remotely plausible in today’s reality? Donald Trump is 70 years old, he’s not changing his mind anymore. This is a part of who he is. What has been so dangerous and egregious about the Trump administration is that those in the center or apolitical field are still not capable of acknowledging the reality we are in. Decades of trying to separate politics from every aspect of our lives has made it impossible for people to properly take in the moment and realize the extent of the problem. To think that a man who went out of his way not to explicitly condemn Neo-Nazis, but went after a black female journalist and black athletes so explicitly would change his world view after a meeting is mind boggling. That pundits and broadcasters in sports and politics are so limited that they are unable to properly diagnose the severity of our problems is disastrous. To diminish the vast differences between Trump and the players, or to unflinchingly celebrate the demonstrations on Sunday is a dereliction of duty. The inability for even a basic conversation or understanding to take place shows that the core issues will never be addressed.
Some liberals have even failed to fully grasp Colin Kaepernick’s protest. They’ve made it about Trump, with one of the editors of prominent pro-Hillary Clinton website ShareBlue tweeting:
Takes like these littered Twitter, even though Colin Kaepernick’s protest began under Obama’s presidency, not Donald Trump’s. Kaepernick has also been explicit that he is not just criticizing a party or political figure, but systems of white supremacy and police brutality and everyone who is complicit in them. To make the issue about who is in the White House ignores the countless murders of black people by police officers during Obama’s term. Hillary Clinton being President would have done next to nothing on the issue of police brutality, which Colin Kaepernick made apparent himself. Centering Trump, or the act of kneeling as a now anti-Trump gesture erases everything that Kaepernick sacrificed his career for in the first place. His critique has always been systemic, on an institutional basis, encompassing all of America. Self proclaimed allies that have no political vision other than being against Trump seek to appropriate Kaepernick’s own courage and bravery while not taking the actual stance that he did and contribute to his message being lost in the crowd.
While the backlash to Donald Trump’s comments has caused many more to take to the side of Colin Kaepernick, the message that he has tried to get across only becomes lost in all the noise. Conservatives attempt to make it about the flag and ultimately play their hand too open, revealing that racism and American’s institutions are entirely entwined. Owners and some football players take part in the demonstration but are vague with their message, talking about diversity and free speech. Broadcasters and pundits fail to take in the reality of the conflict as they attempt to remain as neutral and noncontroversial as possible. Even some liberals miss the point by narrowing this down to a solely anti-Trump moment, rather than simply another act in the long and continuing struggle against white supremacy.
Kaepernick made his message clear. This isn’t about corporate diversity, a flag, unity, the military, free speech, or Donald Trump. This is about systemic police brutality and the lives it takes day in and day out. This is about white supremacy ingrained in the roots of America. To dilute that message makes any attempted stand in solidarity empty.
