Kaepernick’s movement

athlete has been willing to duplicate Kaepernick’s stance, or raise a fist in the air as members of Eagles did Monday night. And as the protest has played out on the most prominent of athletic stages — NFL Sundays — it’s done so with only African-American involvement.

It’s an absence of variety that makes it all too easy for Kaepernick’s supporters and detractors alike to dismiss a problem that plagues a nation — the overpowering latitude and aggressive attitude of police forces — as merely a “race thing.”

With no public support from white athletes of prominence, Kaepernick’s detractors write his protest off as the disillusioned anger of minorities, suggesting that the few vocal NFL players speaking out against injustice (a growing, but still small number) can “just leave” the country.

And with no support from white athletes of prominence, those who support Kaepernick’s cause are left to feel like a minority isolated in mistreatment, left to feel as if they must first convince their own locker room that racism exists in order to get everyone to understand police brutality. That first battle is both unfair and unnecessary burden: While the loose-cannon mistakes of police have hurt Black America most, such missteps could very easily hurt anyone else in the population.

The first white male athlete to take a knee will be the most valuable of bridges, instantly letting Kaepernick’s critics know that the battle against police brutality is not just an African-American problem. The first white male athlete to join Kaepernick’s protest will also serve as a reminder to Black America that there is someone who understands the plight of Blacks, and that the battle against police brutality is not theirs to fight alone, and that he’s willing to make the sacrifice to do something about it. And that first white male athlete to take a knee will force the same deep introspection on all athletes that black athletes have felt since Kaepernick’s protest began. Ever since Kaepernick’s protest began, all African-American athletes have had to carefully ponder their actions during the anthem, because, regardless of their own personal feelings, their decision to kneel or not kneel sends a signal about their feelings on issues of police brutality. That burden has not landed on prominent white male athletes just yet, because only African-Americans are dying on TV, and on Sunday afternoons, only African-Americans are leading the public protest against police brutality.

It should.