Colin Kaepernick: The Real Issue Is

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A movement is underway.  It holds the power to change the course of future events. There hasn’t been anything like it.  Everything about it signifies…in the voice of the Republican presidential candidate…it is going to be “huuugggee”! As so many historic feats before it—there is no time like the present!

My extensive resume of sports fandom includes an emotional commitment to only one collegiate team, interest in a wide variety of sports, and the cheering on of too many athletes to count.  What it doesn’t include is a jersey of any of those athletes.  The personal movement I’m referring to, is about to change all of that…..a Colin Kaepernick jersey will be hanging in my closet in the very near future!

The great minds at Merriam-Webster have defined freedom as a political right as well as thequality of being frank, open, or outspoken:

I take no issue with the right we all have to disagree with another person’s actions.  As a matter of fact, because I opt to celebrate the accomplishments my people have had under the stars & stripes….great strides that have taken place for a people that have been free less time than we were enslaved & the opportunities that remain ahead….I also opt to stand when the national anthem is sung.

What I do take issue with though is the distraction of the method of protest not the matter of the protest itself:

Kaepernick has never expressed anything but respect for the military.  Where did that conversation start?  And for every person who touts their ties to the military…you’d be hard pressed to find someone who does not support our service men & women for their efforts….the challenge is in finding a person without a family member or friend who has served or is serving in the armed forces.  We ALL have ties to the military.  Please stop jumping on this bandwagon!

Dabo Swinney: do you or don’t you respect Kaepernick’s actions?  There was more shade in your recent comments than in Clemson being inexplicably dropped from the #2 spot—a win is a win….

Jerry Rice:  “Can’t we all just get along?”….THE quote from an unarmed man seen being beaten by police officers—the very root of the protest…THIS was the best you could do?

Of course All Lives Matter, Richard Sherman.  However, if they all mattered equally….a Stanford student convicted of sexual assault wouldn’t be given more leniency in the courts than a Stanford grad in the court of public opinion after an emotionally charged diatribe following an emotionally charged football game….

Boldness varies by personality, Trent Dilfer.  As does the lack thereof…when you opted to “sit back and be quiet” as a backup qb in Seattle then travel cross country only to do the very same as a starter…to virtually every member of Baltimore’s defensive roster, nobody judged you.  Tsk tsk for assuming the ability to acquiesce is a sought after skillset.  

At issue is the treatment of people of color in this country.  If you think it is fair—we can most definitely agree to disagree.  If you don’t think it is….choosing to sweep the matter under the rug of how someone choses to address the flag, is like playing Marco Polo….in the kiddie pool!!

That’s all for now….I’ve got some jersey shopping to do!

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