I got a text from an ex-student 3 days ago. It made me cry.
But…hold on.
I think we have to start with Colin Kaepernick.
One of the most poignant posts I have seen on social media during the past week juxtaposed the image of Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem and a police officer with his knee quite literally cutting off the breath and murdering George Floyd. There are several versions, but the caption said something to the effect of if you were more upset about the first image than the second, you are part of the problem. Nailed it. After all, I’ve seen lots of “why can’t they find a more peaceful way to protest?” comments from many…including some who are also legitimately outraged at what amounts to a public lynching. (If that’s you, I highly encourage you to go read the op-ed written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the LA Times: “Don’t Understand the Protests? What you’re seeing is people pushed to the edge”)
More peaceful? You mean like silently taking a knee? This is LITERALLY what he was protesting about. However, many of the same people enraged about the anger spilling over into the streets this past week were also enraged by Kaepernick. They didn’t want to listen then and still don’t want to listen now. Sometimes when nobody’s listening…you gotta say it louder. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”
George Floyd? Yes, of course, this is about George Floyd. Yes, it is about Breonna Taylor. Also, Tony McDade (go ahead and look it up, because Black TRANS lives matter, too) but it is so much bigger. It is about a list of names too long to fit on the t-shirt. It is about names we’ll never know for one main reason; no video. As Will Smith said, “Racism is not getting worse, it’s getting filmed.” Wait…did you know he said that in 2016? Not this past week. Four years ago. And yet, here we are again.
Okay, so now we’re getting to the tough part.
Why did the Kaepernick angle on this story hit me so hard?
Because in 2016 I was a coward.
I was fired up about the criticism leveled at Colin, and I saw a pattern in it that reminded me of a misunderstanding I worked hard to eliminate in students as a classroom teacher. People were calling his protest unpatriotic and wanted to eliminate his right to do it. So I sat down at my laptop and drafted a blog post response defending Kaepernick and, more significantly, the act of protest. I shared it with a few people, got some feedback on it, and then…
Did. Not. Publish. It.
I also never deleted it. It has sat in my documents files for almost 5 years. It is so old it is a Word document instead of Google Docs. Every time Kap comes up in a news story, I think about it sitting in there but certainly never more than this past week. I am posting it below unedited. Not because I think it is that wonderful of a piece, I wrote it in about 25 minutes as a free write. But, because I want to share some additional thoughts after you read it. Remember, this was in 2016…so the candidate referenced eventually became the President.
Here it is:
Kaepernick and Patriotism
“The greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Controversy has swirled over the past week about Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the National Anthem at his NFL games. If you read some of the vitriol spewed at him you would think he is a hater of America and someone with a total disrespect for our armed forces.
I see it quite a bit differently. I know this will anger some of you and you may not be willing to even listen to an alternative point of view on this because it is so emotional. I’m going to try anyway!
First of all, maybe it will help if I start by telling you that I stand during our National Anthem. I love my country and I have the utmost respect for those who put their lives on the line to protect it and those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives.
That’s exactly why I support his right to choose whether or not to stand. Patriotism isn’t defined as blind devotion to your country. A true patriot is someone who loves their country enough to fight to make it better. Our country came into existence through bloody revolution. We were literally FOUNDED in protest against oppression. Much of the progress of even the past century in racial relations and civil rights was FOUGHT for through civil disobedience and acts that many at the time labeled as “unpatriotic.”
I have never been swayed or impressed with the crowd of people who yell, “Love it or leave it! People died to secure your right to sit during that song, you scumbag.”
EXACTLY!!! People DIED to protect our exquisite and wonderful right to protest! Popular speech doesn’t need to be protected. Pro-government and pro-establishment speech doesn’t require any special protection. Securing the right to engage in unpopular and anti-establishment speech is the very reason for the First Amendment.
Limiting Kaepernick’s right to protest doesn’t honor those who have sacrificed for our freedoms…it cheapens it.
This is the same argument I use with those that think we need a special amendment passed to forbid the burning of the flag. In an effort to save the fibers of the cloth, they are willing to diminish the very principles that make it so great. People don’t die for the swatch of fabric…they die for the principles that fabric represents. By the way, the whole damn song was written DURING a war with a country we just had a revolution with, and the words are quite literally ABOUT being bombed. Have you really listened to the words recently? Shit. Was. Getting. Bombed.
Protest and rebellion are quintessentially American. Did you forget about the tea? Look up Nat Turner. Denmark Vesey. Gabriel Prosser. John Brown. Daniel Shays. On and on.
Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed the most vocal critics (although not all) also happen to support a certain candidate who has come to prominence by criticizing America at every single turn. Apparently, that’s okay??? Apparently, it isn’t unpatriotic to question the legitimacy of the citizenship of our President, claim he is the founder of a terrorist organization, vilify marginalized groups as rapists and murderers, or claim that we are not a great country (you do see that “again” on the hat, right?). But, don’t dare to silently take a knee before a freaking football game to protest injustice. Now THAT is going too far! Hate speech from a presidential candidate? Let it fly! Protest at a sporting event to try to get America to live up to its ideals? No way!
It’s bullsh@&!.
I also can’t stomach the argument that he has no right to talk about oppression because he is a multi-millionaire athlete. What? So there is some level of success that you reach that disqualifies you from speaking up for the human rights of others? Isn’t this exactly what we want? Don’t we want young people (ALL people) to show empathy towards others and to speak out against injustice even when it doesn’t directly affect them? Athletes have been relentlessly criticized for their LACK of involvement in social issues when they have been blessed with such a huge platform to try to make a difference. I guess they are damned if they do…damned if they don’t. By the way, if you don’t think his choice is an effective way to draw attention to the subject, I ask you to consider that it is the very reason you are reading this post right NOW.
Then there is the childish tact some have taken to mock him for the downturn in his career. Are you kidding me? Here is a guy who has been the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl! Here is a guy who reached the pinnacle…he made The League! Unless you are in like the top 25 people in the universe at what YOU do…I think you need to be quiet.
How about those who say that no NFL team should give him a contract? Yeah. Meanwhile, serial abusers of women, drug addicts, and players accused of heinous crimes get contracts all the time. This isn’t really a serious argument at this point is it? There is zero moral high ground here for an NFL team.
My favorite speech in all of American history is the “Mountaintop” speech of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is the last speech he ever gave because he was assassinated the very next day. I have included the video and I hope you’ll take the time to listen to it. There is so much that I love about it. The sheer oratorical skill and power of his presence is overwhelming to me. The realization, knowing what we now know about the next day, that he almost seemed somehow aware the end was near. The look of tiredness on his face as he approached the end of the speech…a sense of the toll that the fight had taken on him mixed with a superhuman resolve to see it through. Finally, the wonderful clarity and moral righteousness of the message he delivered.
“All we’re saying to America is be true to what you said on paper.” –MLK Jr.
This line is a knockout punch. The Civil Rights Movement wasn’t “complaining.” It wasn’t “whining.” It wasn’t “disrespectful” to the country or to those who served it. It was the ultimate patriotic act. It was the raising of standards. It was saying, “We won’t let you be less than you can be as a country. We love America too much to accept this.”
“ALL WE’RE SAYING TO AMERICA IS BE TRUE TO WHAT YOU SAID ON PAPER”
“Somewhere I read…of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read…of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read…of the freedom of the press.”
“Somewhere I read that THE GREATNESS OF AMERICA IS THE RIGHT TO PROTEST FOR RIGHT.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
You may vehemently disagree with Kaepernick. You may be offended by his decision. You may believe he has chosen the wrong way to draw attention to the plight of the oppressed. You may, like me, choose to stand during the National Anthem.
BUT…don’t for a second think that protesting against injustice is an unpatriotic act or that standing up for the human rights of others is un-American. Protest is the ultimate act of patriotism. It is the very essence of America.
Okay…I’m back. I would add and change a few things but there it is exactly how I wrote it in 2016.
So full circle back to the text message from my ex-student.
Here it is:
“Burgess. Been watching and reading about everything going on in America and just saddened and sickened by what I see. What makes me sadder is that some people aren’t feeling that way. I just want to thank you for teaching me about this country’s history and illuminating the ugly side of it. For teaching me and my peers how to be inclusive and knowledgeable about our privilege and to question our leaders when they fail us. A lot of people call you their favorite teacher but might not be able to articulate why…it’s because you taught us to be informed, fair, and above all, compassionate to our fellow man. We were so lucky to have that gift. So thank you, always.”
It made me cry. (Only fair, I guess, because I made her cry many times with our topics covered in US History that year! Thank you to Breezy for allowing me to share her message.)
Tears of happiness? Yes. But, if I am to be honest it was more complicated and convoluted. I think I have grown and become a better person in many ways…even in the last year. But, maybe there are also ways I don’t always measure up to the teacher I used to be for kids. Maybe I don’t always serve as courageously as I once did.
I taught US History with a very singular focus. Our country started out with words that still reverberate across history.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just rights from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it…”
Woah. Do you know how radical that is? This was not some academic pursuit. Students see this old school flowery language and the white wigs and ruffled shirts and think they were a bunch of sissies. This was written during a revolution. This is about picking up arms and shooting people. This is about burning shit down. This is about signing a document that is a death sentence if you lose. Treason…punishable by death.
It was also written by highly imperfect people…many of them slaveholders. Rejecting the rights of women. Participating in a genocide. Partly plagiarized. It’s complicated. Our story has beautiful and uplifting moments...and really ugly ones, too. But, it is our story nonetheless. It is about the centuries-long battle to live up to the words we started with. Failing time after time…and then getting back up and trying to move closer. That’s how I used to teach history. It was aspirational more than inspirational. Inspirational is “look how great our country is.” Aspirational is wanting to be better, recognizing where we can be better, organizing movements to get better, and taking actions to reach that better.
So part of those tears trace all the way back to 2016. I’m disappointed in myself. I pulled a 1994 Pippen and refused to go in the game…but this wasn’t and isn’t a game.
I definitely deserve to sit in the discomfort of that a bit.
In matters of racism and police brutality, neutrality is a neutered cowardice. Save the “but not all…” and the “why do they have to…” sentiments for later. We ALL need to get in the fight.
-Dave
