AND DON'T CRITICIZE WHAT YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND
According to a poll taken by the National Opinion Research Center, 83% of respondents agreed that black people “would be better off if they would take advantage of the opportunities that have been made available rather than spending so much time protesting.” That was fifty years ago, in January, 1967. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
I don’t care all that much about professional football, but I do have more to say about the critics of the protesting players. Those critics approach the issue from one of two directions. One approach boils down to “There’s nothing wrong, so shut up.” That’s what Donald Trump is saying. Fifty years ago, people like Trump would have called black protestors “uppity.” Now they call them unpatriotic and ungrateful. But the message is the same: This country belongs to white people, and black people are lucky that real Americans (the white ones) allow them to live here. That critique doesn’t have any depth or subtlety. It’s just racist.
The other critique, though, is more interesting because at least superficially it seems reasonable. That argument is, in so many words, “Yes there’s a problem, but protesting – or at least this particular protest – is counterproductive.” Some people who make this argument are probably just concern trolling, but many others are perfectly sincere.
Either way, my position is that if you oppose the players’ strategy but are sincere about supporting their cause (opposing police brutality against African Americans), you have an obligation to come up with a better strategy. And while you’re working on a better strategy, keep a couple of things in mind.
First, if you look at the history of the civil rights movement, you’ll see that protests – at least the ones by African Americans – are never popular when they’re happening. Cases in point – in 1961, 61% of America disapproved of the Freedom Riders in Mississippi. In 1963, 60% of America thought that mass demonstrations by Negroes hurt the cause of racial equality. According to a Gallup Poll in 1963, even the now-legendary March on Washington had the support of only 23% of Americans. A whopping 60% disapproved, while 17% had no opinion.
In other words, if you’re trying to figure out an effective way to put the spotlight on police violence against African-Americans, you’d better understand that you’re not going to win any popularity contests. A substantial percentage of white people will resent whatever approach you take.
Second, remember that if a protest is going to be effective, it has to be visible. Telling players to take a knee in the privacy of their own homes is essentially telling them to shut up. If kneeling during the anthem isn’t the right time, what’s a better time? If kneeling isn’t the right way to protest, what’s a better tactic?
So you have to come up with a time, place, and tactic that make your protest visible. Many folks have called the Dallas Cowboys’ strategy of kneeling before the anthem and then standing up during the anthem a good compromise. But will the networks pay attention to pre-game gestures once the novelty wears off? I kind of doubt it.
If you’re inclined to argue that a football game is the wrong time and place for a protest, and that players should protest on their own time, don’t forget the recent example of ESPN’s Jamelle Hill, who – using her personal twitter account and never mentioning ESPN – was reprimanded by the network for harming ESPN’s image because she tweeted criticism of Donald Trump.
I’m not claiming that kneeling during the national anthem will “work,” in the sense that it will result in a quick reform of policing in America. Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, and President Eisenhower sent troops to enforce court-ordered integration at Central High School in Little Rock in 1957. It took seven more years to get meaningful civil rights legislation passed.
Maybe there’s a more effective protest strategy out there. But history suggests that most white Americans don’t want to hear black Americans complain – about anything. As long as Republicans control the executive and legislative branches of government, we’re unlikely to see any positive change, and things are likely to get worse before they get better.
I don’t have any advice for Colin Kaepernick and other protesting athletes. They strike me as thoughtful people who are using the tools they have to do the best they can in a difficult situation. If you’ve got better ideas, don’t be shy about speaking up. Otherwise, I recommend cutting them some slack.
In the meantime, there’s at least one useful thing the rest of us could do. We could work to get overt racists out of our government by helping Democrats take back Congress in 2018, and the presidency in 2020.