Taking A Knee

I kind of wonder why people are worried if a football player kneels rather than stands during the playing of the national anthem.  Oh I mean I get it all right: part of the answer is so obvious!  They feel the player is being disrespectful.  Got it, makes perfect sense.

On the other hand I don’t believe there’s ever been a requirement to stand: it’s just been assumed that players and fans will want to do so.  I mean, if a player or fan did not stand up, is there a law on the books under which he or she could be arrested and carted off to jail?

While some patriotic fans might wish for such a law, I don’t believe there really is one at present.  In other words, it’s not a crime not to stand.  You know, I once ran into a similar situation when I was a teacher.  

When we recited the Pledge, I expected all students to stand.  One time a student didn’t stand.  I talked to him later to find out what was going on.  It turned out his family was Jehovah’s Witnesses who don’t stand for the flag salute as they honor no secular authority. 

It’s a right of theirs recognized by law.  Well, I was a little miffed at first but turning it over in my mind I could see they had the right on their side and there was nothing else for me to do.  I did whisper one final suggestion to the boy: 

“I understand it is your right not to stand and you won’t have to in this class.  However, it might be nice if you stood up to show respect to the other students, even though you aren’t going to say the words.  I'll leave that choice up to you."Sure enough, next time the class recited the Pledge, he stood, quietly.

Well, what about the expectation, law or no law, that all athletes should naturally want to stand because they are role models? 

There is some truth to this view; athletes are role models for the young.  The question becomes, what kind of role models do we want them to be?  Even though they are wearing a uniform and playing on a professional team, this does not mean they cease to be ordinary American citizens.  They have rights, too, which they are free to exercise.

The people who get upset by this “taking a knee” believe that the kneeling athlete is being disrespectful, rude, and frivolous.  And yet we’ve not seen that attitude or behavior from any of these athletes.  All of them appear to be following the dictates of their conscience.  Indeed, they must know that such abstention may not be good for their popularity, at least in the short-term.

Colin Kaepernick, the first to refuse to kneel, has spoken out clearly to explain his reasons: he does not intend to be disrespectful but there is a serious problem in our nation regarding the mistreatment of Black people by the police. 

Americans have the right to protest peaceably; it says so right there in the First Amendment.  They even have the right, if they have the courage, to engage in non-violent civil disobedience to protest injustice.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us that lesson.

So getting back to the role model question, especially for parents and teachers: do you want your kids to see absolute conformity all the time or do you want them to see individuals on occasion who are willing to put their beliefs ahead of routine conformity by following their conscience?

I mean it’s the easiest thing in the world to stand for a few minutes but sometimes among those standing are probably some people who don’t care or aren’t listening, aren’t thinking deep thoughts or feeling deep emotions.  It’s easy to make a habit of something and do something in a habitual manner without putting much thought or feeling into it.

But even if every single person who stands feels something stirring inside of them, feels pride in being an American, even gets misty-eyed on seeing the flag raised and hearing the high notes of “and the rocket’s red glare”—well, what are they saluting and feeling if not the pride that comes of knowing we live in a country where each individual has freedom of speech and liberty of conscience?

You see, I’m thinking they can’t have it both ways.  If they love the flag it’s okay for them to want everybody else to love the flag, too.  Truth is, we don’t all have to act and think alike.  That’s a fundamental right we have: to be different. 

I would submit these kneeling athletes are not being disrespectful; I submit they are being extraordinarily respectful of the rights and duties symbolized by the flag.  Where there is injustice, should they keep quiet?  They have decided no, it is time to join their voices to others who hope to stop the senseless killing of unarmed Black men and women.

People protested to end slavery; they protested to end segregation; isn’t it past time to protest police brutality and excesses of violent abuses under the cover of authority? 

It’s odd how history turns things upside down: “taking a knee” was once considered ultra-respectful.  People knelt before royalty.  Personally, I refuse to kneel to anybody for that reason.  I only knelt once of my own volition.  I was visiting Washington D.C. and wandering around the wading pool area after seeing the Lincoln Memorial when I came across a small statue of a man I did not recognize from a distance.  

I got close enough to read the inscription and saw it was John Paul Jones.  Something blast of patriotic fervor seized my soul at that very instant and before I could help myself, I knelt before him.  Oh great courageous warrior who helped free a nation from the shackles of British tyranny!  I arose after a few seconds and I have never knelt again before statue or person in homage or submission and never will.

If the athletes were talking, listening to music, checking email, playing a video game: that would be disrespectful.  Make no mistake: there is a huge difference between rude, disrespectful, and insulting behavior—which this is not—and individual athletes “taking a knee” to register a protest over a perceived injustice. 

In this latter context, I could never call “taking a knee” disrespectful or forget they have a moral and lawful right to do so.  If our flag stands for anything, it stands for their right to try and bring attention to the long string of questionable deaths of Black men and women at the hands of the police.  

If our flag stands for anything, it stands for the rights of all Americans to follow their conscience when circumstances and social conditions call for them to do so.

Pressuring them to stand is not the answer.  Stopping the unnecessary deaths and removing the cause of their silent protest in the first place: that is the way to go!

Afterword:

There are 1,776 words in this blog, a number intended to remind us of who we are!