Let me be frank, the problem is not Kaepernick sitting out the national anthem, the problem is that many privileged Americans still have not discovered that other people in this country have different day-to-day experiences, whether because of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, etc. Your daily experiences probably differ to what Kaepernick and the POC community in general experience. It is really that simple.
But, of course, this issue runs deeper than one person. There is so much context to this story.
If, for example, you mourned Muhammad Ali’s death, the activist athlete who refused to fight in the Vietnam war and repeatedly spoke out against racism and Islamophobia, but still are mad at Kaepernick, you need to do more research, or at least be consistent with your actions. You missed the point.
If you romanticized Jackie Robinson as the baseball player who broke the “color barrier,” but ignore the fact that he too sat during national anthems, you are doing yourself and the conversation surrounding this issue a disservice.
If you romanticize with blind patriotism Francis Scott Key for writing the National Anthem, but discredit the fact that he actively worked as a district attorney to discredit the antislavery movement and promoted African colonization, you are privileged enough to not learn the full story: it did not affect you (alternatively, this could be read as: "the 'white education system' did not find this fact important enough to tell you).
If you are infatuated with the Star Spangled Banner, but don't know it has a full third stanza dedicated to describing how the blood of all the former slaves on the battlefield will wash away their own “pollution," you need to own your own ignorance and educate yourself. Following this elucidating path makes you a better person, not sitting defensively saying "I did not know, and now I am not going to educate myself because I am upset you pointed out my flaws."
But if you still think that Kaepernick “desecrated our flag and everything it stands for,” you better be consistent.
That flag is supposed to mean “liberty and equality for all.”
Therefore, you cannot get mad at Kaepernick for “disrespecting” this idea of equality for all and then simultaneously protest the legalization for same-sex marriage, for example.
Or, again, you cannot think that monitoring “all Muslims” and making them “register” in a database is a good idea, for another example, while still claiming “moral superiority.”
You are not allowed to miss the “for all” part of equality. I could continue with examples for ages.
Even if this was something to be genuinely mad about, Kaepernick would still be exercising the rights that “this country ‘provides’ him.”
But, maybe instead of insulting Kaepernick for his supposed moral failures, you should continue to work to help the 22 veterans that commit suicide every day and actively work to help provide insurance to the millions of veterans without coverage.
Because you have already been doing that, right?
While we are at it, I suppose I have another question for you.
Why is your outrage for “disrespecting” the flag more than the outrage extended to the actual soldiers of the country? Or rather, why are you more mad at someone not standing for the national anthem than you are mad that within the past 15 years, American soldiers were sent to combat because of knowingly false information, and corporations and particular politicians made billions off of their deaths.
You don’t agree with Black Lives Matter; they should protest a different way.
You don’t agree with highway protests; they should protest a different way.
You don’t agree with Kaepernick; he should protest a different way.
At this rate, would you have stood with the civil rights movement if it was unlike what high school history class romanticized and whitened for you?
Stop policing POC expression. Focus on real issues. Educate yourself.
The issues that Kaepernick (and BLM) addresses are real. You don’t get to dismiss them because you naively disagree with the method or haven't bothered to research the historical context surrounding a network of issues you are privileged enough not to think about or deal with.
Oh, and one last thing: you are not allowed to condescend Kaepernick for suggesting that America has issues if you are reading this with a hat that says, in literal agreement, America is currently not "great."
