Even Black People Who Are Mad At America Love America

Once more with feeling — African-Americans love America. I believe even black people who are mad at America love America. That includes the black people who stand up for Black Lives Matter in street demonstrations, and those like San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who sit down when the national anthem is played. Kaepernick explained his protest to NFL Media: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

His actions and comments continue to draw widespread anger from other football players, some teammates, entertainment stars, and politicians. A Gold Star mother’s emotional letter went viral. Former fans posted pictures of elaborate rituals burning his uniform and canceling their season tickets. Plenty are furious that he — who is benefitting from a big-check career — would immerse himself in the controversy about police shootings of black men. Kaepernick tried to explain his motivation. “There are bodies in the street,” he said, “and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

To be sure, a lot of people think his intended effort to raise visibility about the police shootings misses the mark by insulting the flag and what it stands for. Congress passed the U.S. Flag Code law in 1942 which spells out the details of how to salute the flag — facing it, standing, hand over heart. But the First Amendment protects Colin Kaepernick’s right to protest and supersedes flag code law. That right is fundamental to the nation’s principles of freedom.

Nevertheless, flag protestors, and especially black flag protestors, invite singularly offensive comments impugning their patriotism. Online commentators didn’t just call for Kaepernick to leave the country, but to go back to where he came from. Um, that would be Milwaukee. But I am heartened to see that there is a large and growing number defending Kaepernick against those who call him un-American, including a newly formed social media group #VeteransForKaepernick. One veteran tweeted: “Free speech is free speech. All the time, for everyone.”

Some of Kaepernick’s fiercest critics are especially irate that he doesn’t seem to be grateful for the perceived advantages he got as a biracial kid adopted and raised by white parents. “Fox and Friends” host Brian Kilmeade went so far as to say Kaepernick should stand up in gratitude for his white parents — not his parents, his white parents. Even Heidi Russo, his white birth mother, who gave him up for adoption, weighed in from afar with her disapproval. By the way the parents who did raise him have spoken about helping him learn his African-American heritage, and understand what it means to be a black man in America.

In taking a political stand about race issues, Kaepernick joins a short list of black athletes risking their livelihoods. I remind the vocal flame throwers that the much beloved Muhammad Ali was banned from boxing, and vilified for his refusal to fight in the Vietnam war while pointing out black Americans suffered under segregation. Most recently, basketball king LeBron James put his lucrative sponsorships — worth millions — at risk by wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt, and speaking out about police killings at the annual prestigious ESPY awards. Kaepernick says he knows full well that his decision could cost him. Nevertheless, he pledges to continue his silent protest for at least the remainder of the football season, saying simply, “This is bigger than football.”

Meanwhile I am struck by how the San Francisco quarterback’s action is set against a backdrop of historic irony about “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Kaepernick describes his dissent as a demonstration against the ongoing oppression of black Americans. In 1814, when Francis Scott Key penned the lyrics, abolitionists used the same language to object to the slave-holding songwriter’s words. They rewrote his “o’er the land of the free and home of the brave” to read “o’er the land of the free and home of the oppressed.” Centuries later, Colin Kaepernick echoes history in his modern day effort to right racial wrongs.