[If it’s Super
Bowl week, it’s time for another SportsStudying
series! This time on the fraught and contested, and not the slightest bit
new, intersections between sports and politics. I’d love to hear your thoughts
on any of the week’s posts or any related issues!]
On two ways the
controversial quarterback’s protests extended a historical influence.
Although the presidential
election of course sucked much of the oxygen out of any other news stories
during the fall of 2016, one of the other most talked-about stories of that
season was been San Francisco 49ers backup (although former Super Bowl
starting) quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s #BlackLivesMatter-connected national
anthem protests. In the course of his season
of protesting, Kaepernick inspired similar protests across the league (and other
sports leagues), sparred with a Supreme
Court Justice (and even changed her perspective in the process, per that
hyperlinked story), and produced numerous thinkpieces
on whether he was contributing to apparently declining ratings and
attendance for the NFL, among many other effects. But too much of the time, then
and in the more than years since, journalistic stories on Kaepernick have focused
on those 2016 questions and issues, rather than linking him and his protest to
what seems to me (and
other historians) its perfectly clear historical origin: the 1968
national anthem Black Power protest in Mexico City by U.S. Olympic
sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
As is so often
the case with history (see for example the collective
embrace of Martin Luther King Jr., compared to the vitriol and hate he faced
in his lifetime), the Mexico City protest has perhaps come to seem less
controversial or divisive than was the case in its moment. As Smith and Carlos
have amply testified, they
were (and have continued to be for nearly four decades) on the receiving
end of just as much racist, faux-patriotic nastiness in the aftermath of their
protest as Kaepernick has been. Which, to be clear, they very much expected,
and indeed was precisely
the point of choosing both the Olympic stage overall and the potent
symbolic moment of the national anthem specifically as the occasion for their
protest. Similarly, Kaepernick has always made clear that he was and remains
prepared for the consequences of his own anthem protest, and has—by donating
a million dollars to activist organizations in the Bay Area—demonstrated
his deep and ongoing commitment to the cultural and political causes for which
he’s protesting. In those ways, Kaepernick’s protests can be seen as also
paralleling the Black Panther Party—a source of controversy and division, but
also an example of thoughtful and committed activism for and contributions to
social justice efforts.
While the Mexico
City protest and the Black Panther Party had a good deal in common, I would
also differentiate them when it comes to audience. That is, the Black Panthers
very overtly focused on addressing and engaging with fellow African Americans,
while Smith and Carlos were seeking to reach a broader national (and even
worldwide) audience with their message. Both kinds of activism are equally
important and complement each other, so the difference isn’t a hierarchy in any
sense; just another layer to analyzing these respective efforts. I would put
Kaepernick’s protests in the “broader audience” category, and I have one
particularly clear illustration of his effects on that level: my sons. While I
talk about lots of AmericanStudies kinds of topics with the boys, I don’t
believe we had yet talked about Kaepernick when, out of the blue, my older son told
me that his 5th-grade chorus was practicing “America the Beautiful,”
but that he had chosen not to sing, “just like Colin Kaepernick.” A few days
later, he mentioned that he had decided not to say the
Pledge of Allegiance during morning announcements; his teacher asked him to
do so, but he resisted. For the three years since, both he and his brother have
consistently knelt
during the Pledge in their respective classrooms. With at least these two
thoughtful young Americans, the influence and inspiration of Kaepernick’s
historically grounded protests have been tangible and impressive.
Next sporting
post tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other sports and politics intersections you’d highlight?
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