Why #TakeAKnee is Important

I’ll just say this straight out: there is NOTHING unpatriotic about exercising one’s First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of expression by sitting, kneeling, or even turning one’s back on the flag during the playing of the National Anthem when one is making a point about the disparity between our idolatry of the symbols of our nations (the flag and the anthem, in particular) and our continuing unwillingness to grow into the ideals of our nation (liberty and justice for all who are created equal). This is not Jane Fonda going to the capital of the country with which we are at war. This is not Dennis Rodman popping up in Pyongyang as a publicity stunt or whatever that was to give a two-bit dictator more standing on the international stage. This is men whose lives have been defined far more by the color of their skin than by their abilities on and off the field of play calling our collective attention to just one of the many ways that we have fallen short of the glory of the American ideal in a peaceful, prayerful way. 

This American ideal as expressed in the Constitution is the one for which every veteran, every fallen warrior, and everyone in uniform right now takes an oath to preserve and protect. We talked A LOT about the Constitution in our Naval Science classes in NJROTC because that is the whole point of America’s existence as a nation. The Constitution is what makes us the Shining City on a Hill, a beacon for freedom and equality that has led the world for 75 years and been a major player for much longer than that. It is the goal to which we aspire and within it are encapsulated both the goals that make up the ideal and the mechanisms by which we achieve those goals.

#TakeAKnee uses one of the mechanisms of the Constitution to raise awareness of how far short we have fallen in achieving one of the goals. Starting with Colin Kaepernick, not one of the men who has chosen to take a knee has done so lightly. They understand the outrage from many people about their actions, protected by the Constitution though their actions be. They want us to understand that it is not as safe to be a person with skin that is not white in America as it is to be a person with white skin in America. They want all of us to understand the outrage that is the number of black people killed by law enforcement officials without significant punishment in the most egregious cases or sufficient recognition in any situation that these events could almost always have ended differently with better training for the officers about their own implicit biases. They are calling us collectively to do better, to be better—to live into the ideals upon which our amazing country is founded. (Please note I’m using “they” here only because I’m not actively out there with them; I am not at the moment placing my body in harm’s way and my risk for speaking out on social media and on my blog is minimal compared to the risk taken by Kaepernick and others who have taken public action.)

That the uproar focuses on the action of taking a knee rather on the reasons for that action is yet another symptom of the evil grace of white privilege that pervades American society. We who are white continue to benefit from egregiously discriminatory free gifts perpetuated in insidious ways by each generation since the first slaves were landed to be sold in the colonies in 1619. Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Tamir Rice are names we should remember because they represent hundreds of men and boys who should still be alive today and would be if we had enough courage to admit our failings and fix them. I’m vastly simplifying the numbers to make a point here: If 1000 white men had encounters with law enforcement, 10 might be killed during those encounters. If 1000 black men had encounters of the exact same nature, 25 might be killed during those encounters. The rate of death is 2.5 times higher for black men than for white men during law enforcement encounters. Yes, in absolute numbers, more white men than black men die every year as a result of encounters with law enforcement. But as represented in the population, the rate is much, much higher for black men. A search for women killed by or who died while in the custody of law enforcement yields the names of many more black women than white women; for every Justine Diamond, there are Korryn Gaines, Sandra Bland, and Charleena Lyles in mute witness to the dangers of being black in the presence of law enforcement officers who are not aware of the socially imbued biases about race, mental illness, and special needs that they carry into the field. 

Do not mistake this action for disrespect, lack of patriotism, or lack of love for America. On the contrary, along with serving in the military, calling American to attend to our ideals and where we fall short is one of the two most respectful, patriotic, and loving actions a citizen can take. If these players and owners and fans didn’t believe in the American ideals, they wouldn’t bother trying to make them real. I wouldn’t be writing this post if I didn’t understand the righteousness of the cause; this is my somewhat paltry way of showing solidarity with the goals of the protest and with the call to action embedded within it. I’m motivated by my love of this country, by my basic humanity, and most important by the teachings of my faith, which calls me to love my neighbor as I love myself and to be a peacemaker…not the false peace of no war or fighting but the true peace that exists only when all are treated equitably and fairly no matter their skin color, mental status, intellectual abilities, or any other feature that might disadvantage them according to worldly ways. I would dearly love for #TakeAKnee to be the last protest necessary. I would dearly love for America to come to its senses with this, take a long look in the mirror to acknowledge our shortcomings, and then start for real the hard work of generations to fix them so that we have true peace here. Then we can be the leaders for true peace everywhere, which is the ultimate American ideal.

#TakeAKnee, America. And then get up and let’s get to work so we keep America the best country in the world.