While it seems that President Trump and the 86% or so of Americans who agree with him scored a decisive victory in the “culture wars” over the NFL and its Kaepernickists, no one, of whom I’m aware, has yet gotten to the root of the phenomenon of Kaepernickism.
Yet Colin Kaepernick himself revealed it to us over a year ago.
We need to be honest about what’s going here with these “protests” on the field by acknowledging the truth. The truth is that they are most decidedly not protests against President Trump. Nor are they protests designed to signify “Unity,” “Equality,” or any other abstract but lofty ideal that Kaepernickists now invoke to control the damage from which the NFL is suffering.
The now jobless professional football player who kicked off Kaepernickism expressly stated his reason for not honoring the flag.Though he always refused to stand, it should be recalled that, originally, “Kap” didn’t “take a knee” but, rather, sat while the anthem played.In any event, the intention was the same.
Fortunately, Kaepernick shared his intention back in August of last year, long before he or anyone else expected any kind of pushback, to say nothing of the pushback with which the whole league was met recently.Thus, before his colleagues and industry leaders felt the need to make attempts to restore their image, Kaepernick shared his real reason for turning his proverbial back on the flag. He didn’t beat around the bush about it.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
And there we have it.
Kaepernick was clear. To his credit, and unlike his many followers and apologists who insist that Kaepernickism never had anything to do with disrespecting the flag or the country, Kaepernick himself put the matter to rest. He knows, and admits to knowing, what his backers lack either the ability to recognize or the honesty and courage to concede:
(a)In refusing to stand during the national anthem (whether one sits or kneels is irrelevant), Kaepernick (and his imitators) intend to signal a lack of pride;
(b)It is not some objectionable lyrics or history of the national anthem that Kaepernick (and, by extension, Kaepernickists) refuse to affirm, but the American flag;
(c)The flag, Kaepernick clearly sees, represents the country;
(d) Thus, in refusing to stand during the anthem, Kaepernick refuses to express pride in the United States of America;
(e)America should invoke, not pride, but shame and loathing, for America is a country that “oppresses black people and people of color.”
In this same interview, Kaepernick elaborates on his last comment: “There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Notice, the “oppression” of nonwhites to which Kaepernick wishes to draw attention is, as he would have us believe, murderous. Blacks (and other nonwhites?) are routinely being murdered in cold-blood by police officers who are made to face no consequences for their ruthlessness.
Actually, while it is individual police officers who have pulled the triggers, ultimately, it is the country, as Kaepernick is quick to note, that is the real culprit.
It is America that disposes of black bodies, leaving them “in the streets” while allowing the triggermen to walk.
Now, it can’t be that Kaepernick is accusing black and other nonwhite Americans of “oppressing” blacks and nonwhites (that black police officers are actually more likely than their white counterparts to shoot black suspects is not to the point here). “The country,” as Kaepernick understands it, is white America.
To repeat, Kaepernickists refuse to honor or respect the flag because it represents, to them, a country that has always been and remains predominantly white, a country the vast majority of whose citizens have treated and continue to treat blacks and nonwhites like trash, animals to be shot down and left for dead in the streets.
In short, Kaepernickism most definitely is anti-American—or, more precisely, anti-AmeriKKKan. Moreover, it is also anti-white.
It is anti-American because, in refusing to show “pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” a country that leaves “(black) bodies in the street,” gives the killers “paid leave,” and allows them to get “away with murder,” Kaerpernickists indict a whole country.
They also indict all white people.
Remember this the next time you see players refuse to stand to “show pride in a flag” for America.