Last Friday night, before the San Francisco 49ers’ preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem.
Predictably, the refusal has not been well received by conservatives and has been a source of intense controversy.
Responses to these demonstrations often include such gems as, “Do you know how many people died for your right to do that?” and “You’re disrespecting America and American values.”
In a previous column, I addressed how no one has actually died defending our rights and liberties since World War II, but even if the Constitution were under constant threat of being repealed, veterans shouldn’t be upset when people use the rights they secured for them.
If you’re going to defend the First Amendment, you should be prepared to defend all its uses.
The oversensitive, easily offended conservatives who take it personally when someone protests in this fashion don’t understand that “disrespecting the flag” isn’t an assault on “American values” because the flag doesn’t represent the same values for everyone.
For some people, seeing the American flag means it’s quite likely a drone is about to drop a bomb on their home.
And, no, the American flag doesn’t intrinsically mean “freedom.”
It may for some people — the people who get to enjoy comfortably all of the freedoms this country provides, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
But others, as Kaepernick pointed out, are slain in the street while their murderers enjoy paid vacations.
That’s not freedom.
Let’s not forget, the national anthem was written at a time when people of color weren’t considered fully human.
You cannot separate the past from the present, and for some people of color, living in America means not being treated as fully human.
For some the American flag isn’t about freedom, liberty, prosperity and righteousness. For some, it’s about the promise of freedom, liberty and prosperity being broken by the realities of systemic racism, silence and poverty.
More importantly, though, is the notion that patriotism is not equivalent to blind nationalism.
The flag and the country it represents aren’t inherently entitled to my respect. It must be earned by the actions of its people.
So, if its people, on a cultural level, are disrespecting others, it makes sense that a person might not want to support that.
Lastly, don’t suggest that Kaepernick didn’t accomplish anything by doing this. Don’t suggest that there are better ways of protesting.
He clearly got our attention. Symbolic gestures are enormously effective forms of activism.
This is evidenced by the fact that Kaepernick didn’t stand for the national anthem during the first two exhibition games, either, but nobody cared because he wasn’t in uniform for those games.
The first time he’s in uniform and he doesn’t stand, it gets national attention.
And this is because human beings respond to symbols, like uniforms.
So before you jump to burning Kaepernick’s jersey or cursing him out online, try to think carefully about what such an act represents and why it’s important to the First Amendment, our freedoms and the national dialogue on race.
