Kneeling during the national anthem

To think that Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players' forms of silent protest kneeling during the national anthem is about the flag would be a logical fallacy. A false equivalency, to be specific. A false equivalency is defined as comparing one thing to another that is really not related, in order to make one thing look more or less desirable or misrepresent it entirely. Thinking that kneeling has something to do with the flag is a misrepresentation of Kaepernick's protest, as Nate Boyer has voiced.

Let's compare the protest to another form of non violent protest: a hunger strike. The 1981 hunger strikes in Ireland are a perfect example. Essentially, Irish prisoners began not eating in protest of their treatment by the British government. They did not refuse food because it tasted bad or because they wished to be fed certain meals, their protests had nothing to do with the food whatsoever. Similarly, Kaepernick's kneeling has nothing to do with the flag.

Let's compare kneeling to an American protest, one we should all know about: the Boston Tea Party. The colonists that threw tea into the harbor were not protesting the taste of the tea, the quality of the tea, or the brand of the tea or anything like that. They were protesting the way the British were treating them. It had little to do with the actual means of the protest - the tea - and it would be a misrepresentation to characterize the Boston Tea Party as a protest against the flavor, quality, type, et cetera of tea. Similarly, it would be a characterization to characterize the kneeling in the NFL as a protest against the flag of the United States.

Among many idiots, there is a belief that Kaepernick began his silent, peaceful protests that he was doing it purely for attention or because he had been benched and was trying to get relevant again. This is wrong and there is no factual basis for these claims. However, there are facts which show that Kaepernick was most likely prompted to begin protesting because of the murder of Philando Castile on July 6th, 2016 which prompted protests. Kaepernick was first benched in week 9 of the 2015-16 NFL season on November 3rd. That is nine months before his first act of protest in the third week of the 2016-17 NFL preseason against the Green Bay Packers on August 27th (a game he played in). If Kaepernick was wanting to do something for attention due to his benching, why would he wait almost ten months to do it? Kaepernick has said that he had thought about going public with his feelings for a while but that he "needed to understand the situation better." Thus, it's evident that in July Kaepernick became aware of Castile's murder and the protests following it, wished to go public with his feelings about it, but waited to understand the situation better. This process of understanding the situation better took place between July 6th - August 26th. So, in conclusion, due to the fact it was ten months between his benching and his first protest and the Philando Castile murder, Kaepernick did not start protesting just so he could have attention and be relevant.

It may be surprising to hear this, but the person who wrote the national anthem - Francis Scott Key - was a slave holder and lived on a Plantation in Maryland. He was quite racist, as he once said black people were "a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community." It may be even more surprising for folks to learn that in Key's "Star Spangled Banner" poem which would eventually become the national anthem there is a racist line which has been omitted from what we sing today. Here's the stanza, with the racism italicized.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave,

From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave;

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

Some context is needed to understand exactly what these lines mean. Key wrote the poem in 1814, during the War of 1812 after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. The War of 1812 was mostly caused by British restrictions on US trade. Now, around the 1810s when this war was fought, roughly 18% of America's population were enslaved black people and British forces recruited some of these slaves to help them fight against America, the nation that had enslaved them. It's worth noting that the British had already abolished slavery and the slave trade at this point in time. The British declared than any enslaved black person who served in the King’s forces would be liberated after the war and copies of this proclamation were distributed to enslaved populations. This unit, referred to as the Colonial Marines, were officially organized on May 18, 1814 and saw their first bout of combat two weeks later, participating in a British raid up Pungoteague Creek. So when Key references the “foul footstep’s” of the “hireling and slave” who “no refuge could save” from “the gloom of the grave” in the third verse, he’s referring to the killing of Colonial Marines. Essentially, this part of the Star Spangled Banner is a racist diss track towards enslaved black people who fought for their freedom. By the italicized lines in this stanza of the poem, Key essentially means to say: "fuck you black people who tried to fight for your freedom from enslavement you all got killed and your blood spilled washes away the evil and impurity you tainted American soil with." That is not very nice and also very racist.