{"id":1756,"date":"2017-10-12T21:06:57","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T01:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2017-10-12T21:06:57","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T01:06:57","slug":"truth-kaepernickism-anti-american-anti-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2017\/10\/truth-kaepernickism-anti-american-anti-white.html","title":{"rendered":"The Truth About Kaepernickism: Anti-American and Anti-White"},"content":{"rendered":"

While it seems that President Trump and the 86% or so of Americans who agree with him scored a decisive victory in the \u201cculture wars\u201d over the NFL and its Kaepernickists, no one, of whom I\u2019m aware, has yet gotten to the root of the phenomenon of Kaepernickism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet Colin Kaepernick himself revealed it to us over a year ago.<\/p>\n

We need to be honest about what\u2019s going here with these \u201cprotests\u201d on the field by acknowledging the truth.\u00a0 The truth is that they are most decidedly not <\/em>protests against President Trump. Nor are they protests designed to signify \u201cUnity,\u201d \u201cEquality,\u201d or any other abstract but lofty ideal that Kaepernickists now invoke to control the damage from which the NFL is suffering.<\/p>\n

The now jobless professional football player who kicked off Kaepernickism expressly stated his reason for not honoring the flag.\u00a0 Though he always refused to stand, it should be recalled that, originally, \u201cKap\u201d didn\u2019t \u201ctake a knee\u201d but, rather, sat <\/em>while the anthem played.\u00a0 In any event, the intention was the same.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Kaepernick shared his intention back in August of last year, long before he or anyone else expected any kind of pushback, to say nothing of the pushback with which the whole league was met recently.\u00a0 Thus, before his colleagues and industry leaders felt the need to make attempts to restore their image, Kaepernick shared his real reason<\/a> for turning his proverbial back on the flag.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t beat around the bush about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there we have it.<\/p>\n

Kaepernick was clear.\u00a0 To his credit, and unlike his many followers and apologists who insist that Kaepernickism never had anything to do with disrespecting the flag or the country, Kaepernick himself put the matter to rest. He knows, and admits to knowing, what his backers lack either the ability to recognize or the honesty and courage to concede:<\/p>\n

(a)In refusing to stand during the national anthem (whether one sits or kneels is irrelevant), Kaepernick (and his imitators) intend to signal a lack of pride;<\/p>\n

(b)It is not <\/em>some objectionable lyrics or history of the national anthem<\/em> that Kaepernick (and, by extension, Kaepernickists) refuse to affirm, but the American flag<\/em>;<\/p>\n

(c)The flag, Kaepernick clearly sees, represents the country; <\/em><\/p>\n

(d) Thus, in refusing to stand during the anthem, Kaepernick refuses to express pride in the United States of America<\/em>;<\/p>\n

(e)America should invoke, not pride, but shame and loathing, for America is a country that \u201coppresses black people and people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this same interview, Kaepernick elaborates on his last comment: \u201cThere are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notice, the \u201coppression\u201d of nonwhites to which Kaepernick wishes to draw attention is, as he would have us believe, murderous<\/em>.\u00a0 Blacks (and other nonwhites?) are routinely being murdered in cold-blood by police officers who are made to face no consequences for their ruthlessness.<\/p>\n

Actually, while it is individual police officers who have pulled the triggers, ultimately, it is the country, <\/em>as Kaepernick is quick to note, that is the real<\/em> culprit.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

It is America<\/em> that disposes of black bodies, leaving them \u201cin the streets\u201d like so much garbage while allowing the triggermen to walk.<\/p>\n

Now, it can\u2019t be that Kaepernick is accusing black <\/em>and other nonwhite <\/em>Americans of \u201coppressing\u201d blacks and nonwhites (that black police officers are actually more likely than their white counterparts to shoot black suspects is not to the point here).\u00a0 \u201cThe country,\u201d as Kaepernick understands it, is white<\/em> America.<\/p>\n

To repeat, Kaepernickists refuse to honor or respect the flag because it represents, to them, a country that has always been and remains predominantly white, a country the vast majority of whose citizens have treated and continue to treat blacks and nonwhites like trash, animals to be shot down and left for dead in the streets.<\/p>\n

In short, Kaepernickism most definitely is <\/em>anti-American\u2014or, more precisely, anti-AmeriKKK<\/em>an. Moreover, it is also anti-white<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It is anti-American because, in refusing to show \u201cpride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,\u201d a country that leaves \u201c(black) bodies in the street,\u201d gives the killers \u201cpaid leave,\u201d and allows them to get \u201caway with murder,\u201d Kaerpernickists indict a whole country.<\/p>\n

They also indict all white people.<\/p>\n

Remember this the next time you see players refuse to stand to \u201cshow pride in a flag\u201d for America. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While it seems that President Trump and the 86% or so of Americans who agree with him scored a decisive victory in the \u201cculture wars\u201d over the NFL and its Kaepernickists, no one, of whom I\u2019m aware, has yet gotten to the root of the phenomenon of Kaepernickism. Yet Colin Kaepernick himself revealed it to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Truth About Kaepernickism: Anti-American and Anti-White<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2017\/10\/truth-kaepernickism-anti-american-anti-white.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Truth About Kaepernickism: Anti-American and Anti-White\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While it seems that President Trump and the 86% or so of Americans who agree with him scored a decisive victory in the \u201cculture wars\u201d over the NFL and its Kaepernickists, no one, of whom I\u2019m aware, has yet gotten to the root of the phenomenon of Kaepernickism. Yet Colin Kaepernick himself revealed it to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2017\/10\/truth-kaepernickism-anti-american-anti-white.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-13T01:06:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Kerwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Truth About Kaepernickism: Anti-American and Anti-White","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2017\/10\/truth-kaepernickism-anti-american-anti-white.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Truth About Kaepernickism: Anti-American and Anti-White","og_description":"While it seems that President Trump and the 86% or so of Americans who agree with him scored a decisive victory in the \u201cculture wars\u201d over the NFL and its Kaepernickists, no one, of whom I\u2019m aware, has yet gotten to the root of the phenomenon of Kaepernickism. 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I teach philosophy at several colleges in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jackkerwick.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/author\/jkerwick"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1757,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756\/revisions\/1757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}