Column: Nothing but respect for those who kneel
Is there a more respectful protest in all of sports than kneeling down beside teammates, arms linked, acutely aware of the national anthem currently being performed by some gifted 16-year-old on a Sunday afternoon? Because other than exercising the right to vote, I’m not sure I can name one.
This weekend in the NFL was inspiring to many, annoying to some, and a wad of spit in the face of patriotism to those upset at multimillionaire athletes allegedly disrespecting the flag. I like to think I can argue both ways on most sports topics (the Titans are so stupidly over/underrated!) and on the surface I can understand the basic points of those irritated by the national anthem kneeling. For clarity’s sake, I’m talking about generally reasonable people offended by the perceived disrespect to country, not the violently disagreeable Facebook commenters who still haven’t woken up to how disrespectful our own president is to the flag and all it stands for.
The argument goes thusly — these men (and women, I see you WNBA) kneeling on Sunday or staying off the field altogether are paid entertainers raking in unimaginable paychecks, the least they can do is stand for the national anthem. Perhaps the country is deeply flawed, but politics and sports are separate spheres. If anything, sports act as a release from the cares of the world for a bit — Lord knows humanity needs a few Trump-free hours of television every now and then. Sunday afternoons are for blocked punts and acrobatic catches, not political commentary.
I get it.
But let’s unpack this a little. First, should it matter what these guys (and girls, seriously are you guys watching the WNBA finals? Game one was incredible) do for a living or if they are indeed millionaires? Since when did anyone give much thought or attention to the silent protests of the poor? Are we really asking professional athletes to do nothing with the valuable platform they’ve earned themselves as superstars? If sports icons like LeBron James and Steph Curry and Tom Brady — oh, right…yeah strike that last one — are expected to remain silent, who exactly is supposed to speak up?
Athletes acting as catalysts for social change is not a new development. Muhammed Ali was probably as notorious for his work on the mic as he was in the ring. I personally toured San Jose’s campus over the weekend as proud statues of Tommie Smith and John Carlos underwent renovations. Protesting on the world’s stage is a privilege athletes earn by virtue of us all agreeing to point cameras at them.
As for the perceived disrespect, consider how typically athletes bounce up and down on the sidelines “staying loose” and thinking footballish thoughts. They sip gatorade and eagerly anticipate the game’s opening kickoff. That’s what us viewers do, too — we change out of sunday clothes and gnaw on chicken wings and flip the game on without much thought to the anthem at all, unless lyrics are embarrassingly forgotten or it was otherwise terrible in some way.
Now, athletes pay attention. We pay attention. Hopefully we spend an extra beat thinking about words that have taken on new meaning since their original inception. For many, the anthem and the flag are symbols that stand for America with the capital ‘A’, everything good and free and covered in barbeque sauce. But that’s not what the song is about, not really. The national anthem is a story of resiliency. The image of a tattered banner hanging on through all-out warfare ‘til “dawn’s early light” is not one of dominance or arrogance or “‘Murica,” but of reserved strength and humility.
You see a lot of hubris on the gridiron. Baker Mayfield planted a flag on his opponent’s freaking midfield logo two weeks back. Richard Sherman drew three penalties in a single play on Sunday, one for pass interference and two more for being a loudmouth. I’m pretty sure Odell Beckham Jr. fake-peed on the field after a touchdown this week. There are dozens of examples — many of which unapologetically add to the spectacle of it all. It probably bears mentioning that if one was to be on the edge of denouncing the NFL as an organization unworthy of their time, there are several other hills to die on more powerful than this one, including but not limited to: inconsistent player discipline, evidence of CTE’s devastating effects, players’ repeated mistreatment of women, the baffling existence of a team named the Redskins and Chris Collinsworth’s ongoing employment.
AP PHOTO Atlanta Falcons defensive tackles Grady Jarrett (97) and Dontari Poe (92) take a knee during the national anthem before an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Kneeling for the anthem isn’t one of those instances. It’s a reserved way — I would argue perhaps the most reserved way — of drawing attention to an issue plaguing our country, a silent shout to millions who tune in every Sunday night to pay closer attention. These guys aren’t spitting on the flag or turning their backs to the flag or just straight-up ignoring the flag. In fact, they aren’t even kneeling to protest the flag, but rather in protest of the racism they’ve experienced firsthand and those turning a blind eye toward it.
Is it really so difficult to put ourselves in their shoes? I see people of faith — people of my faith — ranting on social media about how they’ll no longer watch the NFL, about how those who kneel should leave the country, as if our own religious forebears weren’t systematically forced to flee from their homes. As if we could hardly expect something of that magnitude to ever happen to us in 2017, even as we stand safely on the sidelines of a parallel moment in history while others kneel for our attention. As if we wouldn’t want our peaceful pleas for understanding met with support and not misplaced national pride.
Before this weekend, it’s possible these anthem protests served a selfish purpose — players surely like to be in the spotlight, that’s why they play on Sunday. But now, with the president pulling anthem protests to the forefront of national discussion and the NFL’s PR people working feverishly to stand behind their players (a few months too late), it’s grown into something more.
I get if kneeling for the anthem makes you queasy, but that may just be the point. Let’s be uncomfortable with the drought of understanding and empathy we’re currently weathering and fix it. I expect athletes will continue kneeling for the anthem in an effort to raise a nation’s troubling racism to the level of discussion where solutions happen and attitudes change. My hope is that such protests will no longer be perceived as disrespect for the stars and stripes, but instead a showing of profound belief in what that banner stands for.
If they’re kneeling in protest of racism and not in protest of the flag or anthem, why can’t they do it some other time? Why does it have to be during a song and in front of a flag that so many risk their lives everyday to defend? If they’re doing it for the attention, why can’t they take a knee after scoring a touchdown? I’m all for freedom of speech but I’m all for respecting our country and those fighting for it.
That’s a question many people have, and I think this commentary provides an interesting answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Gx23vH0CE
People _choose_ what to be offended by. Just like people waiving the confederate flag choose to believe they are doing it as a symbol of states’ rights and the 10th amendment, others choose to see it as a sign of racism. The big problem is people choose to be offended by _what_ people are doing and _how_ they are doing it before they ask _why_. We aren’t having a real discussion about the root problems. We’re so hung up by the thin candy shell, which has a satisfying crunch and lots of colors, but it doesn’t have near as much flavor as the creamy middle. Those who call confederate flag wavers racists aren’t asking why that flag is important to them, they just make assumptions. Those who call these NFL players disrespectful SOBs assume they are virtually spitting on the graves of the soldiers, not understanding their true intent.
Get over your assumptions and offended sensibilities and listen to people! You’ll have a much easier time getting them to stop their offensive actions that way.
Logan, thank you so much for writing this. What an excellent article.
Thank you for your thoughtful and timely article.
Do I personally care if players protest this way? No. I also don’t think it will accomplish much except be a spectecle. Own opinion. Though I can empathize with those who view protesting during the Star Spangled Banner. A large portion of the population feels the national anthem is an anthem to our nation’s soldiers, and past sacrifices to build America. A distracting display during this is seen as an attack on these people/ideas. It’s like voicing political views at a church, it makes some people uncomfortable.
There is a time and place for everything. Attack the national anthem, or actually go out and invest some of your millions into making real changes for the cause (Magic Johnson anyone)? The problem is that the players are not genuine with what they are doing. Otherwise they would do things differently. The “newspaper cause” is that blacks are mistreated in this country, but the real cause of the players that do this is pride- black pride. Everyone is so blinded by their own perspectives and blacks and whites keep separating themselves into different categories of humans. It was nice as a kid when people were just people and no one was saying “white pride”, “black pride”, or “whites cops always kill blacks”. We are going to see a lot of people being attacked for their pigment, culture, religion- and we are going to miss when we were kids and none of that stuff mattered. Every child learns in school the history of what happened in WW2 when people had pride in their race and prejudice towards another. To anyone who believes in this newspaper cause: Go into the communities you want to help and make a real difference.