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Am I the only one?
Am I the only one who doesn't care if some athlete stands for the national anthem or not? We've had an exhausting amount of media coverage for this, and all I can think is how petty and stupid we are for devoting our time an energy to debating something like this.
His critics need to remember that it's a free country. You can stand for the national anthem or not. And if you start telling people that standing for the anthem is mandatory, then you're kind of ruining the freedom you claim we're standing for in the first place. American soldiers fought and died for our freedoms, and as far as I'm concerned, choosing to stand or not at a ball game is one of those freedoms.
His supporters are not right either. Exactly what does he expect to accomplish by not standing during the anthem? I've never heard him explain any plan or demands or anything he wants to happen from all of this, outside the fact that he's protesting racism. I'm sorry, but "awareness" is not an adequate reason to protest. The American public has a short attention span, and if you don't convince them to take action and change something while your issue is in the limelight, then you lose. We all move on to the next thing. The greatest protests in history had a clear motive and we're on point. Rosa Parks and the bus system boycott had a clear objective: desegregate buses. Not this protest. Does he want to change the national anthem? Or stop police brutality? What do you want?! As far as I can tell, this will go down in history as another protest that didn't accomplish a single thing. Occupy Wall Street, all over again. Guess what protesters, wall street is still running, because you DIDNT HAVE A PLAN.
My theory is that Kaepernick just spaced off and forgot to stand. We've all done it. Then rather than face the music for not having his head in the game, he called it "protesting." Just a theory though.
You have a very good point and I see where you are coming from. I completely agree that there needs to be a clear action plan. But, pray tell, how can an action plan be made without the acknowledgement of a problem? There must be acknowledgement. Sadly quite a few Americans do not think like you or agree that there is a problem. The Black community and other minorities cannot make a plan on their own because that would sort of defeat the purpose of pushing open dialog. First there must be acknowledgement, open dialogue, then a plan between both parties. BOTH parties need to sit down and formulate a plan, not just one. Otherwise it won't work. It's kind of like a relationship, if one person wants it to work and wants to talk it out and the other doesn't, then clearly no matter what in the end nothing will come of it. It has to be a team effort.
I get what you're saying. I too wish that more of the people in this country were aware of the racial issues plaguing us, and willing to have productive conversation about it. And I agree that everyone needs to be part of the solution for it to work. However, if we wait to discuss solutions until everyone comes to the table, then we will be waiting a long time, probably several generations. The people who *are* aware of the problem, whatever color they are, need to start discussing solutions now, so that we have time to weed out the bad ideas before presenting it to the greater public, which is filled with people who may not be as forgiving. Also, I believe that many of the people who fight against this movement do so because they feel that it is a threat to them in some way. I think that if it had a clear plan and directive, they would feel less threatened and many of the more moderate ones would be on board. Most people fear the unknown, and right now, everything this movement wants is an unknown. It's like a kid's parent saying "you're gonna get it when you get home." "Get what?" the kid wonders. Not knowing what's coming is part of what's so scary about it. This is why I complemented the bus boycott in the OP. That boycott was successful because it didn't try to tackle the whole issue all at once. They had a clear plan and a simple goal - to desegregate buses. It didn't solve the whole problem, but it was a step in the right direction. And that's the way we have to approach racism in this country - one step in the right direction, then another, and on until we reach our goal. Because we can't rewrite the opinions of the masses simply by disagreeing with them. Most of the time that just makes them more entrenched. But we *can* step in the right direction by fixing a problem. And if you keep taking steps in the right direction, you will end up where you wanted to be in the first place.
I completely agree with your post. Great feedback and comments. Hopefully we all can strive forward as a nation and tackle these issues.
I hope we do!
Don't hold your breath. Tribalism has a choke hold on this country and not even natural disasters bring people together for any length of time.
Nothing wrong with tribalism.