Gestures mean little if no one signs Kaepernick
The NFL is doing everything it can to show it’s sincere about confronting racism in America.
Everything, that is, except the one thing it needs to do. The one thing that could actually have a significant impact.
So long as Colin Kaepernick remains blackballed by the NFL, playing the Black national anthem before all Week 1 games and finding a way to recognize the Black men and women who’ve been killed by law enforcement is just window-dressing. A way to make a statement without saying anything of substance.
There will be a good portion of fans who will tune out “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” just as they do “The Star-Spangled Banner,” treating it as extra time to stop in the restroom, visit the concession stands or find their seats. Decals on helmets are easy to overlook, whether someone is in the stadium or watching from home.
You really want to send a message that the NFL recognizes racism permeates every part of our society, that the system remains inherently rigged against Black and brown people some 150 years after the end of the Civil War? Then someone needs to sign Kaepernick.
Kaepernick had the audacity – and courage – four years ago to call out police brutality against people of color, and plead for America to acknowledge its most fundamental and glaring flaw. But white America had little interest in recognizing its privilege, let alone giving it up, and that goes doubly so for rich, white America.
Which describes pretty much the NFL owners.
It was easier to discredit Kaepernick than hear his message. To characterize his method of protest as an offense to the flag or the anthem or the military or whatever so he could be ignored. Never mind that the then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback took a knee at the suggestion of a former NFL player who had also been a Green Beret, or that peaceful protest is a bedrock of our democracy.
Like so many civil rights activists who came before him, Kaepernick was seen as a threat. The NFL, worried about alienating fans, chose its bottom line over its conscience. The league’s cowardice became further entrenched when President Donald Trump used the protesting players as a dog whistle to rile up
all of his base.
When Kaepernick asked for his release from the 49ers, having already been told he would not be brought back for the 2017 season, the NFL had its out. No team would dare sign him, even as washed-up re-treads were given chance after chance after chance.
Even when Goodell tried to force owners into doing the right thing, setting up a poorly thought-out workout for Kaepernick last fall, they wouldn’t budge.
But there has been a seismic shift in attitudes since a white police officer pressed his knee into the neck of George Floyd for almost nine minutes, ignoring the Black man’s cries that he couldn’t breathe before Floyd’s body went limp.
Protests have taken place in every state and abroad, in cities large and small. It has not just been Black and brown people pleading for their humanity to be seen. White America has joined in, finally recognizing that liberty and justice do not exist for all.
Confederate statues have been pulled down. Debates are being had about the nature of policing. Polls show that the Black Lives Matter movement, considered radical only a few years ago, is now supported by the majority of Americans.
Even the opinion of athlete protests has evolved. According to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll last month, 52% of the country now thinks it’s “OK for NFL players to kneel during the national anthem to protest police killings of African Americans.”
As athletes have joined their voices in the call for change, leagues have scrambled to catch up. NWSL players wore “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts, knelt during the anthem and had a moment of silence during the Challenge Cup. The NBA is in discussions with its players on how best to acknowledge what’s happening in the country when it resumes play.
Goodell has apologized to Kaepernick, and promised to work with players in their fight for racial equality. Now comes the addition of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” to the pregame program, along with on-uniform elements recognizing the victims of police brutality.
But gestures, even notable ones, are easy.
It’s the hard work that’s needed now and, for the NFL, that means signing Kaepernick.