Colin Kaepernick and the Politics of Patriotism

In a country where reality stars become Presidents, where facts are distorted by alternative facts (lies), where information takes a back seat to opinion and spin, one thing remains constant; you don’t mess with our national anthem.

In a league where Joe Mixon gets drafted after beating a woman on tape, where the violence of the game itself leaves former players more punch-drunk than Muhammad Ali and as suicidal as Aaron Hernandez (too soon?), the one unforgivable act is to be a black man as the figurehead of a peaceful protest against the undeniable racist history and current racist reality in the United States of America.

Or so it seems.

While sports reporters nationwide debate the black-balling of Colin Kaepernick, whether there is some grand conspiracy to purge him from the National Football League, there is a far more likely reason Kaepernick will not get a contract. The politics of patriotism.

Next to NASCAR, the NFL is by far the most flag-waving sport in the states. Any owner who takes a risk on signing an over-glorified, mediocre quarterback is taking an additional risk on disenchanting their fan base by signing this one. Outside of San Francisco, name one place in this country where there is not going to be a backlash to signing an American labeled as unpatriotic?

Imagine Colin being welcomed in Dallas or anywhere in The South, even as a backup. Imagine him playing for the quarterback-starved Jets, kneeling as 9/11 firemen join the color guard for the national anthem. Even if he stands with his hand in his heart and tears in his eyes for every rocket’s red glare, people won’t forgive or forget, at least not for a very long while. Looking at it this way with an understanding of what our country is, what has happened to Colin Kaepernick was entirely predictable.

Even in San Francisco, most fans breathed a sigh of relief when Kaepernick opted out of his contract. And that is why the thought that this is happening to Colin Kaepernick is a bit of a misnomer. The real mistake Kaepernick made was opting out of his nearly $20,000,000 contract for this year. Thinking that he would get anything close to that on an open market was foolish at best, ironically foolish for someone who claims to have his pulse on the ills of society. Thinking he would get a starting job as a quarterback in the United States of America after sitting out the national anthem for an entire year is, let’s just say it, it’s stupid. Did he think the problems he protested wouldn’t affect him in an open job market? There is no feeling sorry for Colin Kaepernick.

This coming from a reporter who sat out national anthems himself to protest the start of the Iraq War. No one paid attention to the protestors then, and maybe they should have. Maybe we should be paying attention to the issues Colin Kaepernick is protesting rather than paying attention to his employment status and attacking the protector, but that’s not the America we live in.

We live in an America where distraction rules and the bottom line of a financial report is our moral compass. From that mindset, unless Colin Kaepernick moves himself to the back of the bus as a third-string quarterback, takes a minimum salary and works his way back up from there, there will be no place for him.

Did I say back of the bus? I meant back to the bench. But the allusion is real because that is what the American public is going to want to see before accepting him back. They are going to want to see him, “In his place” before they can move on. As sickening as this is to write, the harshness of this reality is true.

Unlike most reporters, it’s unimportant to this one whether this is right or wrong on a moral spectrum. If you are looking for morality in politics or in business then you are severely misguided. What is important is establishing some foundation of reality around these subjects. The argument of Colin Kaepernick’s race-based black-balling is not necessarily incorrect and can be a contributing factor, but the politics of patriotism is a far more likely reason for Colin Kaepernick’s unemployment, and it says a lot more about us as a society than it does about him.