With all due respect to Aaron Rodgers, if I was at tonight’s Packers-Bears game I would pass on his request to link arms with the people next to me during the National Anthem–rather than place my hand over my heart. And unless you believe that police officers that shoot and kill young, black men should automatically be prosecuted and convicted, I suggest you pass too.
I’m sure thousands at tonight’s game will comply with Rodger’s request. They will be arm-and-arm with their spouse and friends thinking “Look Aaron! I’m with you! I’m all about unity!” But they will have absolutely no idea what they are “uniting” for. Some will believe that they are “sending President Trump a message that it is okay for people to protest”. But what are those people protesting?
Perhaps we should go back to the genesis of the NFL National Anthem Protest movement. 49er’s quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the Anthem last football season to protest officer-involved shootings that saw the policemen either cleared by internal investigation or acquitted by juries of their peers. After a couple of weeks, a few of his teammates joined him–and then players on other teams took a knee as well. Now that Kaepernick finds himself without a team this year, some of those players are carrying on the protest in his place.
Now, when was the last time you heard the Anthem protests framed in that way? When the kneeling players were criticized by fans the protests morphed into “I’m taking a knee to show support for my teammate”. Then when President Trump profanely inserted himself into the debate a couple of weeks ago the protests became about “We’ll show him that we aren’t SOB’s!”. And now, Anthem protests are about “unity”.
The perfect example of how the intent of the original protester has been co-opted into something completely different can be found on this week’s cover of Sports Illustrated–which features images of A-Rodg, NBA stars, team owners, out-spoken coaches and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell–but not Colin Kaepernick. Can you see why African-American commentators are so frustrated that the issue they wanted people to think about has been completely swept aside.
To be fair, Aaron Rodgers is a California guy–and he comes from a culture where empty gestures and angry yelling is considered “doing something” about a problem. If he really wanted to get to the root of “institutional racism in law enforcement” he would encourage his fans to join their local Police and Fire Commissions that oversee the departments Colin Kaepernick believes are rife with bigots. Or he would fund scholarship programs for “tolerant” young people to go through law enforcement programs and to take jobs in the most dangerous neighborhoods in America–with the mindset that they are never going to draw their weapon on minorities.
But go ahead and show how much you love Aaron Rodgers by linking arms tonight. It’s easy–and it doesn’t require any thought.
