Patriotism and cowardice have often been confused for each other recently. The extent to which people confuse issues concerning Patriotism and Cowardice is very alarming. More alarming is the fact that people who confuse patriotism with cowardice are not aware of it.
Here are two scenarios.
Person A in an interview called out a veteran who was captured in World War 2 by the Germans. Person A concluded on National T.V. that the veteran should not be considered a hero since he was captured. Person A also shames minorities as well as people with disabilities and blames them for the downfall of America. Person A in a 2 year span has encouraged a boldness of hatred towards minorities setting America back decades in the progress it has made.
Person B risked his football career and losing his fans by putting his fist up and sometimes kneeling on one knee during the National Anthem. Person B does this as a sign to protest against police brutality and the unjust treatment of minorities. Person B in less than six months has encouraged several of these protest among other footballers, high school students, some police officers and several college students.
Looking at this two scenarios you would think that there is a clear distinction in who a patriot and a coward is, seeing that only one of these people is doing something that could make American better. Nevertheless, somehow Person A is regarded as a patriot. Someone who genuinely wants to "Make America Great Again". Meanwhile, Person B is seen as a coward, someone who is disrespectful and has no love for his country or the veterans who fight for it.
Reading this it’s almost impossible to believe that anyone could be so clueless about patriotism and cowardice -- until race comes into the picture. Person A is a white male, known as Donald Trump and Person B is a minority male known as Colin Kaepernick.
What would you say is the reason for the misconception of Patriotism and Cowardice? Is Trump really a Patriot and Kaepernick a Coward? Are people just blinded by race? Does racial privilege play a role?
