There's an argument that's been thrown around a lot in the current public discourse that I'm really sick of hearing- it boils down to, in one form or another, "Protest elsewhere. I tuned in to watch football, not see a political protest."
Can there be a more self-entitled statement than that? "My right to watch television without having to think about anything that makes me uncomfortable is more important than particular groups of Americans getting shot and killed by police departments across the country disproportionately."
To put it in simpler terms: "My right to watch television is more important than your right to live."
That's an ugly, ugly statement. It gets wrapped up in some pretty bows and decorations to make it seem less so, like "I won't watch them disrespect the flag." (I doubt most who have said that have ever felt the same way about a woman in a flag bikini, or a dude in flag board shorts at the beach.) The outrage is so ridiculous because it's so selective. So very specific. Why? Because it's easy.
It requires zero effort to get outraged at a football player or any other public figure taking a knee and then to make a ton of noise about changing the channel on social media. Outrage is also addictive, and people love having an easy target to direct it at to let out a ton of pent-up aggression. But it requires no actual work. The stuff being protested (namely inequality and police brutality) require actual effort to fix and are a lot more complicated to find solutions to, so there is no easy outrage "Like" button to hit that'll make us feel good about ourselves and our patriotism for a few minutes in regards to those issues.
Kneeling has, for generations, been seen as a respectful gesture across races, religions and nations. Kneeling is a common ritual in many different religions and General Zod would have crushed you had you stood before him with a hand on your heart. (I hope most people get that reference...) I can't think of a single other instance where kneeling was seen as disrespectful. I don't think it could be any MORE respectful. When we love something, that doesn't mean we can't recognize its flaws and want for it to improve. Cubs fans are all about their team, but they didn't want to see it finish last every season. They had hope for things to get better,
Players or anyone else kneeling down before the flag or the national anthem are hoping for things to get better. If you have a significant other with a drug dependency, you want that person to improve. Wanting that doesn't mean you love them less. This country and this world still very much has a sickness when it comes to race and racial equality/racial relations. It's fully possible to respect the police officers of the nation and still want police organizations to do a better job of removing bad officers from their ranks and training officers to deescalate situations more effectively. Players kneeling brought even further attention to that issue in a way that harmed nobody, but then their message had to be drowned out by people trying to take control over what that message is, or what it REALLY is. Invoking veterans is a great way to change the subject. Many of the people who have been wrongly killed within our borders by people sworn to protect them were veterans too. Or are we choosing which veterans we are honoring and which ones we aren't now?
I don't care who watches football and who doesn't, but the "I want to watch a game, and protesting quietly before the game even starts infringes on what I want" argument is so tone deaf even from people who I otherwise greatly respect. You can choose to watch or not watch, but don't change the narrative of what the players are actually discussing in order to make yourself feel better about it. None of us own patriotism. None of us can rightfully say "my country" or "my flag." It's not mine. It's ours. Just because someone doesn't honor it the way you think they should doesn't make them wrong. If you think it does, maybe try to humble yourself a little bit.
You can start by taking a knee.