End the divisive rantings
Iam white. I am a registered Republican. My father is a Navy veteran and a proud retired lieutenant with 30 years of service to the NYPD. And I truly love America. But I couldn’t possibly be more disgusted and dismayed by everything that is happening in our country — politically, racially, culturally and philosophically. In the midst of the madness, the sports world deserves our genuine applause for deciding to do its share to say or do something concerning the issues of the day.
So, Colin Kaepernick really is the bad guy here and was named in a recent poll as the most hated player in the NFL — for peacefully kneeling down for a song in protest. The NFL is the same league in which men who beat women are signed and cheered as long as they produce and a convicted serial rapist is nominated for the Hall of Fame.
This happens in a country where far too many people — both unarmed black men and hardworking police officers — are far too often gunned down in cold blood. Enough already. Look, I fully support the flag and our brave military, and my family has a very personal affinity for the police, the large majority of whom do the right thing to support their families and to protect all of us. But I also have totally believed this from the first day it happened: Good for Kaepernick, who has backed up the talk and has vowed to donate large sums of money and all proceeds from the sale of jerseys that some see fit to burn over his constitutionally granted stance on social injustice.
And good for U.S. women’s national soccer team midfielder Megan Rapinoe. And for the NBA’s Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul for taking a stand earlier this summer.
And for the women of the WNBA. And for Richard Sherman and the Seahawks for attacking the problem from a different angle. And even for Michael Jordan for finally — finally — saying something, anything.
Surely, the death earlier this year of the incomparable Muhammad Ali at least partly was the impetus, but here’s hoping these protests from the sports world continue and eventually advance to the stage that true, tangible change and progress actually comes from it.
There was a time when one could hold beliefs on both sides of the political fence without fear of public backlash, rebuke or ridicule. When you didn’t have to 100% pick a side and blindly back an entire platform while turning a deaf ear to the obvious indefensible warts of your chosen candidate. Believe me, that goes both ways. That is no longer the America we live in, especially in this political climate — specifically, this divisive presidential election cycle. It’s now acceptable and even encouraged to spout publicly, or to post from behind a keyboard, so much vile, misinformed and racially-tinged opinion with the full “rah-rah” gang mentality backing of too large a portion of our citizenry.
As mentioned earlier, I have been registered with the GOP for over 30 years, although that truly was more to do with an Alex P. Keaton man crush as a finance major in the heart of the Reaganomics era of the mid-80s.
Like Chris Rock — one of the most astute socially observational voices of our time — once aptly put it, “No sane person is one thing (politically). I have stuff that I’m conservative about, and stuff that I’m liberal about.”
Personally, I have staunch Republican beliefs in terms of capitalism, free enterprise, military expenditures and much more, while siding firmly to the left on social issues like abortion rights and gay marriage, as well as the absurd fight we’re mind-numbingly still waging somehow over common-sense laws on gun control.
My presidential voting record bears that out, beginning with Bush Sr. in 1988, but also with votes cast for Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in subsequent elections.
Listen, we all know folks who have voted solely along party lines — on either side of that equation — every four years. That is something that never has appealed to nor made sense to me; there have been largely unqualified candidates from both major parties.
This election cycle, that is true more than ever.
Some old “friends” — and even a few family members — admittedly have been weeded out on social media this year because their posts are consistently one-sided and too often, irrational and alarming in their blatant prejudice.
That said, go ahead and tell me “stick to sports.” Tell me to go f--k myself. Declare that you immediately are going to unfollow me on Twitter and/or on Facebook. I will try to get over it.
After all, that is your right, whether anyone agrees with you or not.
It is your country. Just as it is Colin Kaepernick’s country. Just as it is my country.