By James Ragland
The Dallas Morning News
It’s strange to kick off a conversation on football by talking about justice, racism and the price of freedom.
In this case, they’re all intertwined, a sport laced with virtuous American ideals coming apart at the seams.
But before we get into how the NFL is treating quarterback Colin Kaepernick, let’s take a look at the big picture. The sad reality is that those who stick their necks out for a righteous cause, no matter what line of work they’re in, often pay a hefty price.
Local historian and author Michael Phillips got a bitter dose of that reality recently when he received a death threat for leading the charge to remove Confederate monuments from the public square in Dallas.
Fighting for social justice can be so unjust.
But, as Phillips will tell you, what he’s enduring is nothing new. Other contemporary and historical figures have risked their jobs, careers and lives advocating for justice and equality. The list of civil and human rights martyrs — some well-known, others unsung heroes — are longer than any NFL roster, past or present.
They go by the names of Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Henry Schwerner. And the four innocent black girls killed in 1963 when a bomb exploded while they waited to worship at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. God bless your souls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley.
History, eventually, recognizes if not rewards those who’ve been trampled by inhumanity. And those who took it upon themselves to fight the good fight.
Which brings us back to the NFL — and its cunning ploy to keep rebel quarterback Colin Kaepernick out of the league’s limelight or pummel him into submission.
What did Kaepernick do to bring the wrath of the entire pigskin kingdom down on his head? He didn’t shoot anybody or beat anybody. All he did was take a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality against black Americans.
For that conscientious act, the 29-year-old was blackballed and tagged a troublemaker. So less than five years after guiding his team to the Super Bowl, the ex-San Francisco 49er can’t even land a backup role. Message sent.
Keep in mind that this is happening in a nation founded on protest, which remains one of the most fundamental and functional tools of our democracy. We are free to disagree with Kaeperknick’s tack, but to suggest that he’s disrespecting America or the countless men and women who’ve sacrificed their lives to safeguard our freedoms is just wrong.
If anything, his actions represent what our flag and the national anthem symbolically afford each of us: liberty, including the right to peacefully protest. Even if it makes someone else uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is among those who take issue with Kaepernick and anyone else who’d dare to challenge a certain concept of patriotism.
“Recognizing the flag is a salute to our country and all of the people that have sacrificed so that we have the liberties that we have,” Jones said last week on a radio show. “I feel very strongly that everyone should save that moment for the recognition of the flag and in a positive way.”
As many times as I’ve excused Jones for his own personal and professional transgressions over the years, I find it hard to pardon him for equating football’s pregame rituals with patriotism, or for failing to grasp the point of Kaepernick’s protest, which is that the cherished liberties he espouses aren’t being enjoyed by everyone.
This is a huge blind spot for the rich and overwhelmingly white male owners who aren’t burying spouses or sons shot in the back or through car windows.
Instead of thumping his chest, Jones and his 31 NFL cohorts ought to be reassessing the message they’re sending in a league in which 70 percent of players are black. One glaring problem is the lack of black owners.
Unable to relate to Kaepernick’s concerns, the NFL owners chose to make a mockery of free speech by making an example of No. 7.
We’ve seen this before.
Muhammad Ali was maligned for refusing to be drafted during the Vietnam War. (He died a hero to many.)
Tommie Smith and John Carlos were castigated for raising their fists in a Black Power salute during the medal ceremony of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico to protest discrimination in America. (They’ve since been honored for their brave, conscientious stance.)
Kaepernick is paying the same price as the defiant black athletes who came before him.
In time, maybe those wrapping themselves in the flag will realize that this young man did a favor to those who believe in America’s ideals of liberty and justice for all: He didn’t stick his thumb in America’s eye by refusing to rise for the national anthem. He forced America, in a respectful and time-honored tradition, to open its eyes to a brutal and unjust system.
He made a choice. And right now, I’m finding it much easier to kneel with him than to stand up for a league bent on breaking his spirit and diminishing what it means to be free in America.
James Ragland is a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. Readers may email him at jragland@dallasnews.com.
