There has bing a big
kerfuffle about a recent counter-protest to Kaepernick
taking a knee during America's
national anthem. The
San Francisco 49ers quarterbackâs jersey was taped to the floor of Krossroads Rock and Country Bar, rendering it as a welcome
door mat. There has been a lot of debate about whether or not that was a legitimate protest, and would a
person of color defend it. So I decided to.
I recognize that the jersey-as-doormat is also a legitimate political protest, and the people doing it are completely free to do so. I was lucky enough to only have to freeze my ass off on the German border to call myself a veteran, many of today's soldiers have to go through hell to gain that right. I support them in their protest and swore I would fight to the death to protect their right to do so.
Having said that, the ability to protest does not remove one from the ramifications of society. Just as people wail about the poor jersey-doormat protesters are being treated shabbily, remember Kaepernick is also being treated very poorly with false "armchair patriots" demonstrating irony so well half the world's English grammar average has improved as a result. The backlash these J-D-Protesters are getting pales in comparison to the backlash protesters of color get on a daily basis for just opening their mouth and asserting their humanity.
One must also look at what the protest is about, and not just what the protest is as an action. To do the latter is the hight of deliberate ignorance, as protest does not exist without injustice; the real issue is to determine whether or not the injustice is legitimate. So looking at the two protests, Kaepernick's and the Jersey-doormat-protesters, both legitimate, both legal, and both defended by law.
Now let's look at the motivations behind the protests. Kaepernick is protesting a serious chain of unexplained deaths among the black community, deaths that if they happened in such numbers from any other cause we would have already imposed a state of emergency and committed federal dollars to its extermination. I don't even have to go into the details at all; people of color are dying in huge unexplainable numbers and Kaepernick is protesting to bring attention to it because Kaepernick feels that institutional racism is at the heart of it.
Again, I do not even need to give details beyond that; from Pica to worker safety, people of color have gotten the short end of the stick by demonstrated institutional racism, so pointing out any specific facet is actually ludicrous under the circumstances. The fact that poor whites suffer from these policies is a desired but undirected collateral damage of our society; the rich need poor people, and suppressing people of color with onerous laws that punish those without resources also conveniently keep the lower class in check as well; add to that a justice system that results in the largest colored prison population on the planet, and it really doesn't matter at which leaf in the Kudzu you point at.
In the case of the legitimate, legal, and defended by law protest by the jersey-doormat-protesters (JDP), they are also entitled to protest. SO let's look at what they are protesting. Let's assume they are smart enough to know that protesting Kaepernick's right to protest is patently stupid, and are protesting Kaepernick's message. Are they protesting that people of color aren't dying in huge numbers inexplicably? Are they protesting Kaepernick's position that institutional racism is a factor? Are they protesting that Kaepernick's position that society must re-evaluate its relationship with people of color? In each of these cases, it appears they are protesting that Kaepernick is protesting, regardless of the method used. That is the real discussion.