I’m going to come clean and say I don’t pay much attention to football; the only game I remember sitting through entirely was the 2004 Super Bowl. Before the controversy, I had no idea who Colin Kaepernick was, but after his National Anthem stunt I sure do now.
Colin Kaepernick is a football player playing for the San Francisco 49ers. He refused to stand during the national anthem, his reason being that he refuses to take pride in the flag of a country that oppresses minorities.
Despite the outrage of some fans and military veterans, Kaepernick has been getting a lot of support for his actions, ranging from the trend #VeteransforKaepernick on twitter, to other athletes, and even President Obama.
They all got together to defend his free expression, and rightly so. It’s well within his rights to refuse to stand for the national anthem…and it’s also within my rights to criticize him for that.
I’m not going to say that he doesn’t care about the issues he’s bringing up, I just don’t think that he deserves the praise,or any attention for that matter, that he’s been receiving.
It’s because he’s a celebrity and has more to lose you say? This guy is selling jerseys like crazy, and he’s still on the team.
Meanwhile in Germany, citizens are being arrested for criticizing the country’s mass migration policy on social media.
Supporting Black Lives Matter is the trendy thing to do now. There’s no taboo against it, like there was against the Civil Rights Movement back in the 60’s.
He’s not paving new ground like Rosa Parks, nor is he risking arrest like Bernie Sanders; he isn’t doing anything of substance or anything to help fix the “oppression” as he calls it.
Complaining about a problem without doing anything to fix it can be summed up with a very simple word: whining.
Do we see Kaepernick going into ghettos and trying to mediate peace between rival gangs to make the streets safer for children? Do we see him getting a movement to stop the drug trade in the African American community? Is he going to go into Chicago and tell his fellow African Americans to stop murdering each other by the hundreds every year? No.
He’s going to sit on his rear during the anthem and then he’s going to make millions of dollars by throwing a ball around. It’s virtue signaling.
Chris Carlson / Associated Press
However, Kaepernick has opted to go the easy route and donate money to his causes. He announced that he will donate one million out of his twelve million dollar salary as well as 100 percent of his jersey profits, which have exploded in popularity since the controversy started.
The 49ers (in a move for damage control I suspect) have also pledged to donate 1 million to – get this – two local California community charities, because apparently Silicone Valley and San Francisco sure need millions more dollars to improve their circumstances, it’s not as if Detroit or Louisiana have bigger problems that will make them need that money more.
Kaepernick hasn’t so far publically stated where his money will be going to aside from similar groups, but I doubt the money will make any difference; billionaire George Soros has been donating millions to Black Lives Matter organizations ever since Ferguson and very little progress seems to have been made in regards to BLM’s goals.
After these announcements I still don’t think Kaepernick deserves the praise he is getting.
I view him no better than a middle class yuppie retweeting #FreeTibet on their Chinese-made smartphone and tithing a small portion of their income to a charity so that they can justify their inaction.
It makes me a little sad because there are actual people who are on the ground doing things to mend the ties between police and the African American community, and we don’t hear about them.
All we hear about is the violence in Milwaukee and now, this.
Of course presidential candidate Donald Trump weighed in on the issue, saying on The Dori Monson Show: “I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him, let him try, it’s not gonna happen.”
I have to disagree on the last part. I’m sure Kaepernick could join Dennis Rodman in North Korea as a part of Kim Jong Un’s harem of athletes.
At the end of the day none of it matters. Trends come and go, newpapers get printed and recycled, money gets spent and collected.
Kaepernick sitting or kneeling out of protest isn’t going to solve any problems. Donating money won’t either, and neither will celebrity protests.
Those looking to solve racial problems in the US can’t sit around waiting for a Superman, they have to take the initiative to make a difference themselves.
Vincent Moore can be contacted at vmoore@kscequinox.com
