Colin Kaepernick does not bother me. He does not offend me. He doesn't ruffle my feathers or grind my gears. I am in no way, shape, or form disturbed by his choice not to stand during our national anthem.
Now, this might shock you or anger you, perhaps rile you up, but I want to applaud Colin Kaepernick. I believe his protest was in fact sincere, as Obama has stated, and genuine. I don't believe Kaepernick is an individual who is anti-American or against our country. I don't believe his gesture was aimed to be disrespectful to our countrymen or our military. And even if it burns your heart and drives your head mad with thoughts of how dare you, his protest was effective in making people talk, grabbing attention, and shedding some kind of light to his goal of bringing some #BLM love to the oppression black people still face today.
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Fun fact: his jersey is trending and actually the #1 NFL seller as in yes, it is the best selling jersey. Huh, imagine that. Wonder what he's going to do with all that money? You can find out here.
Whenever I see someone who defends Kaepernick or says "hey, you know he's not really wrong," I see an automatic statement of a form of self-defense. The person usually defending, supporting, or at least admitting they don't think Kaepernick was wrong immediately says: "Now, I don't agree with how Kaepernick went about expressing his beliefs/form of protest. I love my country. I was raised to stand during the anthem. I respect the anthem, I respect my country... etc... etc... blah, blah, blah." And that's great, really, I'm glad you're patriotic.
But what I'm witnessing more and more these days is the Trump-fueled, ignorance based, hatred and anger-driven mindsets that promote nationalism, not patriotism. And no, they are not the same thing. Nationalism is definitely not a synonym for patriotism. Patriotism is something really cool that people feel for their country and I fully support; it's a feeling of respect and pride for what it country does and does pretty well. Nationalism, however, is an immense and sometimes absurd amount of pride for one's country no matter what the country does, which means pride for and during some pretty terrible things. It fuels ignorance and can lead to feelings of blind arrogance or entitlement.
A nationalist mindset is dangerous for our country. Our pride has clouded our judgment to prioritize real-world issues, real social issues, real racial issues -- real issues our nation is battling every day yet people are quick to turn their nose up and away from -- the raw and true problems our fellow brethren are facing on a daily basis.
Conspiracy theories are swirling are creating this dark cloud of judgment, and pushing a deeper crevice to create a divide between those who agree and those who don't. Conspiracists try to link this young man, regardless of his true intentions, with Islam. This link I'm referencing is the kind of he-might-be-a-Muslim-aka-he-might-support-ISIS-because-he's-anti-American link, not the kind where there's genuine interest in his religious beliefs.
I repeat: a nationalist mindset is dangerous for our country. Our desire to "become great again" has caused our people to turn against one another instead of linking ands with one another in unison to fight our country's issues and support one another in peaceful debate. We've become incredibly divided with our political beliefs and set of ethics, letting a line run right through the heart of our country.
People say our country was once great. People say it's "my kind of people" that have driven our country into sugar-honey-iced-tea (it's an mnemonic device for those of you who didn't catch my drift). Some choose to say it's the ungrateful, entitled, liberal-minded millennial folk that are dragging this country to the bottom of the sea. I see where there was a type of greatness in our country, and I still see greatness within our country. I'm grateful to be so privileged: for the opportunity for free public education, to live in a safe environment, for a stable family life and for my parents to be financially stable to support my educational career. I'm grateful for this country and to be a product and a citizen of the United States; all this being said, it doesn't mean I am blind to our imperfections and sometimes daunting flaws.
If you are a person that sees our greater flaws as some football player that chose not to stand during the national anthem instead of the fact young rapists on college campuses are nearly walking away scotch-free or that we are ignoring the fact there is still blatant racism in our country, you are a person who has chosen to be uneducated and blind to our core blemishes.
No, I am not upset by Kaepernick's decision not to stand because I am enraged by the fact Stanford rapist Brock Turner was released from jail three months early on good behavior from his already ridiculously short prison sentence for raping a woman. No, I am not upset by Kaepernick's decision not to stand because I am incredibly disheartened by yet another form of police brutality surfacing our media. Side note: yes, I'm aware there are very good cops in our world, but I'm disheartened by how many bad eggs we allow to slip through our cracks.
Many are upset by Kaepernick's protest because they see it as a blatant form of disrespect to the men and women fighting for our freedom, the military. Although Kaepernick has expressed this isn't true, people still choose to believe what they want. I understand the feeling of discourtesy, maybe I felt a little bit initially too. But here's the things: I have a brother that has served in the military and I have so much pride in and respect for him and our military. He and his comrades fight for our freedom so we don't have to -- and regardless if you're aware of it or if you like or not, that freedom also includes the freedom of speech. Our military doesn't fight so we all think the same thing and believe the same thing -- that's not what makes our country great. Our freedom to disagree and be different is.
If you're that upset by Kaepernick's silent protest -- peaceful and nonviolent I might add -- stop talking about it. Stop giving him attention, stop retweeting or sharing on Facebook, stop making him a trending item. You have the right and freedom to disagree with Kaepernick. The position of this piece is to point you to see larger problems at hand and realize nationalism could eat us whole and devour any greatness our country still holds. Stop focusing on his action and focus on the message.
If you're really curious about what I choose to do during the anthem: I do stand during the anthem. I take my hat off. Sometimes I put my hand over my heart, sometimes I don't. This gesture doesn't measure the love I have for my country or the respect I have for the military. It is a gesture that has been ingrained in my brain and therefore an action due to rote memory and repetition. I respect my country, and I will support the troops forever, but don't measure the level of respect or depth of love I have for either by whether I stand or sit, or take a knee, during our anthem.
I will also add that while researching for an opposing view on Kaepernick's stand, I came up with mostly pieces generated by the general public or gossip sites, while the larger journalistic publications supported him.
Some suggested further reading if you want more perspectives and information on the topic of Colin Kaepernick, nationalism, or anything else I mentioned in this article:
Shallowness Of Colin Kaepernick Debate Is A National Disgrace, Forbes
Drew Brees Criticizes Colin Kaepernick for Sitting During National Anthem, Bleacher Report
Colin Kaepernick Has The Right To Protest, But His Execution Needs Work, Forbes
Obama defends Kaepernick's national anthem protest, USA Today
Sixteen Thoughts on Colin Kaepernick, Wall Street Journal
Colin Kaepernick Has A Right To Sit Out The National Anthem, Odyssey Online (another fellow Odyssey writer)
My Father Stood For The Anthem, For The Same Reason That Colin Kaepernick Sits, NPR
Nationalism vs. patriotism, Letter to the Editor on Washington Post
Notes on Nationalism, George Orwell via E-text transcription
