Page 6
September 14, 2016
O PINION
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Protest and Disrespect in Black and White
America’s
manifestations
of white
privilege
l aura f inley
This
country
was built on pro-
test, or so we are
told. Americans
fight for what is
right, to correct
injustices and to secure the free-
doms and liberties we wish to en-
joy. We teach our kids to admire
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the
many others who organized non-
violent protests like sit-ins as a
tool for challenging deep inequal-
ity. We talk about the importance
of allies, or those who stand up
with the oppressed, even if they
themselves are not.
Yet when a well-paid profes-
sional athlete elects to use that
same strategy we allegedly ad-
mire so much to call attention
to the continued oppression of
black people in this country, he
is critiqued for his privilege and
denounced for being unpatriotic.
As has been widely reported, San
Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin
Kaepernick has been refusing to
stand for the national anthem, say-
ing, “I am not going to stand up to
show pride in a flag for a country
that oppresses black people and
people of color.”
by
What really seems to be at play
here, then, is not that Kaepernick’s
cause is unjust or his strategy un-
sound. Rather, it is that Americans
want their athletes, especially those
on the new plantations that
are our football fields, to do as
they’re told. Just stay in your
place and all will be fine.
It’s also interesting to
juxtapose the reaction to
Kaepernick’s protest with
the reactions to Donald
Trump, who wants “make
America great again,” which
manifestations of white privilege.
And they are further proof that
we want to enjoy our brutally vi-
olent football without the bother
of confronting anything more se-
rious than when to grab the next
beer and how many wings to eat.
When other black athletes have
shown solidarity for the Black
Lives Matter movement, support-
ed justice for Trayvon Martin, or
engaged in a host of other nonvi-
olent protests in recent years, they
too have faced such criticisms. In
sum: Rich white men can com-
fact.
Minnesota Viking Alex Boone
called the protest shameful and de-
nounced it for being disrespectful.
Yet, as others have noted, Boone
did not call out the “disrespect” of
the Minnesota police who killed
a black man, Philando Castile,
during a traffic stop. Former 49ers
coach Jim Harbaugh also referred
to Kaepernick’s protest as disre-
spectful, later claiming it wasn’t
the position but rather the action
to which he disagreed. New Orle-
ans Saint Drew Brees commented
The reactions of Trump, his political toadies, and a host
of others (generally white) are the very real manifestations
of white privilege. And they are further proof that we want
to enjoy our brutally violent football without the bother of
confronting anything more serious than when to grab the next
beer and how many wings to eat.
of course implies it is far from
great right right now. It can’t be,
as some have said, that Kaeper-
nick’s salary with the NFL makes
his complaint less legitimate,
since Trump makes a crap-ton
more than Kaepernick will ever
dream to. Trump slings all kinds
of criticism and hate in a far from
peaceful fashion, yet is not told to
“find a country that works better
for him,” as he recently recom-
mended to Kaepernick.
The reactions of Trump, his po-
litical toadies, and a host of others
(generally white) are the very real
plain. Black men should not, in-
come regardless.
The New York Giants’ Justin
Pugh, in the very city where Eric
Garner and, before him, Sean Bill,
both black and unarmed, were
killed by police, used Kaeper-
nick’s protest to pledge support
for “different opinions” but most
importantly for the military who
risk their lives for the flag. What
Pugh sees as an issue of opinion
is unclear; it is undoubtedly true
oppression of people of color re-
mains a problem in the U.S. This
is not Kaepernick’s opinion. It is
similarly, despite playing in a sta-
dium close to where Alton Sterling
was killed by police and in a state
that is generally considered the
most unequal for people of color.
And his coach Sean Payton’s as-
sertion that they have “more im-
portant things” they are working
on within the stadium is not at all
minimizing or disrespectful?
An NFL executive has claimed
that he hasn’t seen this much dis-
like for a player since Rae Car-
ruth, who is incarcerated for hir-
ing someone to kill his pregnant
girlfriend. Wow. Truth-telling is
not the strong suit of the NFL, it
seems, if a peaceful protestor is
being compared to a convicted vi-
olent criminal.
Many others have supported
Kaepernick, thankfully. White fe-
male soccer player Megan Rapi-
noe knelt during the playing of
the national anthem before a game
on Sept. 3. She explained, “Being
a gay American, I know what it
means to look at the flag and not
have it protect all of your liber-
ties. It was something small that I
could do and something that I plan
to keep doing in the future and
hopefully spark some meaningful
conversation around it. It’s im-
portant to have white people stand
in support of people of color on
this. We don’t need to be the lead-
ing voice, of course, but standing
in support of them is something
that’s really powerful.”
Veterans are not all uniform in
their response, of course, but the
hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick
makes it clear that some are not
at all disrespected by his action,
seeing it instead as precisely what
they fight for. And, in an interest-
ing turn of events, sales of Kaeper-
nick’s jerseys have skyrocketed
since he began the protest. Maybe
there’s hope he can make Trump-
like money after all, and therefore
be his criticisms of the U.S will be
more widely applauded.
Laura Finley, Ph.D., teaches in
the Barry University Department
of Sociology and Criminology and
is syndicated by PeaceVoice.
When Police Deny the Most Basic Human Concern
Black lives left
to die in the
streets
by e bony
s laughter -
J ohnson
As 18-year-
old
Paul
O’Neal
lay
face
down
with a pool of blood collecting at
the back of his t-shirt, police offi-
cers gathered around. None of the
officers attempted to administer
first aid. None attempted to call
for medical assistance. None ev-
idenced even the smallest degree
of concern for the young man dy-
ing at their feet.
Instead, they restrained him
in handcuffs. But not before one
spat at him: “Bitch-ass mother
f*****.”
So much for “protect and
serve.”
Paul O’Neal isn’t the only black
American who has been denied
the dignity of medical attention.
This trend follows in many of
the recently exposed cases of
police brutality.
In July 2014, Eric Garner
yelled out, “I can’t breathe!” to
the officer who had him hope-
lessly restrained in a choke-
hold. When Garner passed out,
the police officers on the scene
did nothing more than check his
pockets and wait for the EMTs
to arrive. The EMTs declined to
perform the CPR that might have
saved his life.
Less than a month later, mul-
tiple bullets entered the body of
Michael Brown, an unarmed teen-
ager in Ferguson, Missouri, as
he fled from police officers. His
body was left to bleed out into the
streets for four hours.
In July 2016, a police officer
shot Alton Sterling from close
proximity. Full of bullets and
holes, Sterling bled out onto the
pavement and was deprived of any
sort of medical assistance. One
eyewitness reported that the offi-
cer who shot Sterling offered his
own callous solution to tending to
the dying man: “Just leave him.”
A mere 48 hours later, Philan-
do Castile was shot during what
seemingly began as a routine traf-
fic stop. As the life drained from
his body, and a pool of blood
gathered on his white t-shirt, the
officers didn’t lift a single finger
to help him. Instead, they turned
their attention to the living, breath-
ing, completely unharmed police-
man whose actions ultimately cost
Castile his life.
The list of black Americans
who have lost their lives follow-
ing encounters with law enforce-
ment is long and growing. Mean-
while, the list of law enforcement
officers who have simply been
charged with — let alone success-
fully convicted of — killing these
same black Americans remains in-
finitesimally small.
Week after week the loss of an-
other black life begs the question:
Is black life really so undervalued
as to be practically disposable,
particularly by the police officers
tasked with safeguarding it?
Recent data showed that al-
though black Americans are only
13 percent of the national popula-
tion, they comprise a startling 24
percent of those killed by police.
They are also 2.5 times more like-
ly to be shot and killed at the hands
of law enforcement than whites.
This willingness to meet black
Americans with fatal force plays
out in simulations, too. A study
from the University of Colorado
Boulder found that in simulated
situations of perceived threats in
which force was deemed reason-
able, the officers were more will-
ing to shoot black suspects than
white ones.
Though these threatening sta-
tistics are evidence enough, it
becomes especially apparent how
little black life matters when we
consider how law enforcement of-
ficers have refused to take the side
of black life even when it is at its
most vulnerable—the moments
just after an unwarranted attack.
When they’ve deprived black
Americans time and time again
of the medical attention —or ba-
sic human concern — that might
have prevented the unthinkable,
the message is clear.
Not only is black life not worth
protecting, it’s not worth saving
either.
Ebony Slaughter-Johnson is
a Next Leader at the Institute for
Policy Studies. Distributed by
OtherWords.org.