When President Donald Trump thrust himself into the fray over football players kneeling during the national anthem — a protest that has been active for over a year now — the genesis of the movement shifted from racism and systematic oppression of people of color at the hands of law enforcement, to a tawdry and exhausting culture war over the rights of a private individual, and devout nationalism.
Meanwhile, the pioneer of the movement — and his silent plea for justice — has drowned in the process.
Last year Colin Kaepernick took a knee and made his position quite clear: that each killing of an unarmed black man by the police much too often drifts away until it's succeeded by the next without any accountability; that these acts of injustice must come to an end, and that the entire nation must, at long last, have a conversation that makes far too many people uncomfortable. His future in the NFL was stripped from him because of his graceful, challenging actions.
In the days after the president branded any player who followed the quarterback's footsteps a "son of a bitch" during a rally in Alabama, he escalated the thoughtless, ill-considered media drama he inspired. The president struck a racial tone that should not be overlooked or downplayed.
This rings especially true in the wake of Trump's both-sides rhetoric after a violent and shameful gang of white supremacists and neo-Nazis descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, and left a peaceful activist dead. Remember, they are the "very fine people" and it's the black athletes who must fall in line with their owners' reverent nationalism.
In between his unhinged tweets that demanded the firing of private citizens, Trump withdrew an invitation to the White House for the NBA championship-winning team, the Golden State Warriors, because one of their franchise players had expressed that he didn't want to attend.
But Trump couldn't withdraw the invitation, as LeBron James pointed out, because it had already been rejected by said franchise player, Stephen Curry, and questioned by their championship MVP, Kevin Durant, as well as their coach, Steve Kerr.
The internet and social media exploded as athletes and many others weighed in, many stunned by what had transpired.
Last Sunday hundreds of NFL players, front office personnel and even team owners, participated in various demonstrations during the national anthem at their games. Some knelt, some locked arms, some stood, some didn't even leave the locker room. Whatever they did, the message had become muddled. The options of what the protest could be about now included support for Kaepernick, support for each other, displeasure with Trump or the horribly reductive idea of "unity." The stand against racial injustice was still there, but it seemed hemmed in just behind the front burner.
Almost every NFL owner addressed the controversy, but none spoke out about police brutality and racial tensions in America. And none explicitly condemned the words of a president who had called on them to fire their players for peacefully protesting.
Yes, some kept up the good fight. One example was Gregg Popovich, coach of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs; he had more than a few words about Trump, racism and white privilege. Popovich has frequently made his political feelings known, and his remarks were thoughtful and powerful and should have been echoed by the NFL, considering the majority of the spotlight was on them.
The circle seemed complete Thursday night at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, when the Packers, as well as many fans, in a show of unity and solidarity, stood with locked arms as the national anthem played. Unity and solidarity with just what wasn't fully clear. The team's star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, requested the gesture. He has also expressed that the reason Kaepernick is out of job is because of his protests.
Further, the cover of the newest edition of Sports Illustrated featured LeBron James, Steph Curry, Michael Bennett and even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, all, again, under the banner of unity. It was just about as tone-deaf as it gets. Kaepernick was nowhere to be found.
As writer Shaun King put it best, "what Trump said about NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem was hardly different from what NFL owners have not only said, but actually done to Kaepernick."
But it's more than that. Trump has done what the owners did to Kaepernick. He's taken the wheel and kicked him off the bus. Kneeling is a Trump issue now, at least in the mainstream press and to the president's supporters.
Some remain clear-eyed, though. "That was terrible. Just kind of capitalizing on the hoopla and the media and all the nonsense," Curry said of the magazine cover. "The real people that understand what exactly has been going on, who's been truly active and vocal and truly making a difference, if you do not have Kaepernick front and center of that, something is wrong."
It's true; something is wrong. Kaepernick and his message of social justice have been left on the outskirts of a movement he began more than a year ago. A movement he has been endlessly criticized for. A movement that has never been about the flag, or about the military, or about honoring America. (Before 2009, players were not even required to be on the sidelines for the national anthem, but always had the option to do so.)
If anything, Kaepernick honored America — a nation in which protests are deeply embedded — by deciding to speak out against oppression.
Yet, to many — including NFL executives — Kaepernick is a traitor. Of course, those who think so are often those who have remained mute when police officers brutally, and in many cases fatally, abused black Americans at a far more disproportionate rate than anyone else in the country. They're the people who ask how Kaepernick could protest during a song that many hold so dear, not why he would feel the need to do it in the first place. They're the people who say it's inappropriate for black people to protest systemic oppression on the field during the anthem, but can never seem to answer when it would okay raise their voices.
It's Trump and these people who have grabbed the reins and left players and those actually concerned about justice trying to hang on to this wild ride and get the original point across. Yet, silenced as he is, Kaepernick has won in at least one respect.
All this fire spat by Trump and the right, as well as the sidelining of Kaepernick, proves exactly what he was trying to say when he quietly took a knee more than a year ago: There are two standards for people in this country, and the one applied to black people is based on fear and anger. Like Kaepernick, none of us should stand for it.
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