A real star protest is finally born as sit hits the fans

There is an “acceptable” way to speak out against injustice these days, a “proper” way to call for social change. There is a way in which athletes are allowed to express themselves, a “permissible” way that gets them plenty of instant acclaim.

On Friday night in San Francisco, Colin Kaepernick chose a different way, the politically irreverent way that’s destined to make him either hero or villain. When the national anthem played before his 49ers’ preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, the quarterback remained seated, an overt personal protest to a flag and anthem in which he no longer believes.

It was a powerful and weighty political statement, one unlike anything we’d seen from any of the athletes and celebrities in this summer overflowing with racial “statements.” In that moment (and perhaps, more moments to come) Colin Kaepernick dared to be polarizing, disrespecting the national anthem and the American flag and opening attacking the establishment, completely unconcerned with how anyone would react.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told the NFL Network of his protest. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”

And when Colin Kaepernick was done, the rest of the nation could not look the other way, either. Unlike LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony and so many of the other athletic “activists” who have emerged, Kaepernick has forced us to take sides, his actions challenging an increasingly fragmented nation to declare him right or wrong.

He’s taken his platform and yelled about a nation’s problems, much as Muhammad Ali once did (and the reason we fell in love with Ali in the first place), instead of safely whispering a message that could only make friends.

It’s the quality that’s been missing from a summer of safe political “statements” from athletes. As celebrated as Anthony and James were when they delivered their ESPYs speech in July, they were cautious to ruffle no feathers, their eloquence never truly challenging everpresent resistance to social change.

Their brand names got everyone’s attention, but then they delivered a message carefully constructed to leave nobody feeling “upset.” James and Anthony pointed out wrongs, and pushed us all to “educate” ourselves, then backed that up with meaningful actions ever since.

Yet those words have always been careful and safe, delivered in a manner that points out the errors of government and law enforcement, but makes sure to add how “we’re all in this together.” It’s a message that anyone can applaud and nobody can truly criticize, a message that never rocks the status quo, and eternally leaves the “hero” status of James and Anthony intact.

But something different happens when an athlete dares to defy cultural norms, and that’s exactly what Kaepernick has done. Now, society will either label him good or bad, hero or villain, champion of the nation’s oppressed or overprivileged, overpaid quarterback who has known no true oppression.

You either love Colin Kaepernick for his bravery or hate him for his insolence, but you almost certainly hold a strong opinion of him, an opinion that’s erected upon the optics through which you perceive this nation, its flag and its anthem.

For many, the flag and the anthem conjure images of the armed forces fighting for the country, and it’s hard not to think of those who have died battling for the nation. That’s why Giants offensive tackle Justin Pugh tweeted that he’d be “STANDING” for the anthem, saying it was “disrespectful” to our military to dare to sit down.

But it’s hard to ignore Kaepernick’s challenge to the national flag narrative too, hard not to wonder whether the country isn’t indeed dishonoring that legacy when death after death comes at the hands of police, when, as Kaepernick said, there are “bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting S away with murder.” omehow, that body count hasn’t been polarizing enough for the nation to take sides and finally exact meaningful long-term change.

Instead, we’re polarized over an “unacceptable” form of pregame protest that’s destined to leave a football player either loved or hated.