Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Marion Barry and Now Colin Kaepernick?

Oftentimes, a brave person is a despised person and, therefore, must exercise his rights of free expression in the musty gymnasium of opposition alone. NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is such a person.

Instead of standing and putting his hand over his heart, as his teammates and thousands of other silent fans in an NFL stadium do, while the national anthem is sung and the American flag flaps in the wind, the San Francisco Forty-Niner quarterback kneels on one knee, his helmet on the ground resting near one of his legs.

In this act of defiance, Kaepernick protests the national anthem, the writer of the anthem and the American flag as symbols not of freedom and equality, but of racism and injustice. If you are black and a true sweetheart of freedom, you just can’t help notice the kinship of his actions with those of black heroes and heroines past, especially those civil rights pioneers who still make our shoulders shiver with glee.

Three Examples of Extraordinary Black Civil Rights Leadership
Three of these heroes and heroines come to mind: Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers and Marion Barry.

Parks became the sparkplug of the civil rights movement when, on December 1, 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white person as ordered by the bus driver. She was arrested. And that act of resistance sparked a boycott of the Montgomery transportation system by blacks, launched a nationwide campaign to end segregation in public facilities, and earned Parks eternal hallelujahs as “mother of the freedom movement.”

Evers was the first state field secretary of the NAACP in Mississippi. During the early battles of the civil rights conflict, he organized voter-registration efforts, planned demonstrations, and put together economic boycotts of companies that practiced discrimination.

He also worked day and night, weekdays and weekends, before breakfast until after dinner, investigating crimes against blacks. And what did he receive for his heroic efforts? A white supremacist martyred him, on June 12, 1963, in front of his home, in Jackson, Mississippi.

Barry was the charismatic black mayor of Washington, D.C., from 1979 to 1991 and 1995 to 1999.

He gained fame by firing guns of insult, scorn and a mocking smile to ridicule the District’s racist white establishment, which included The Washington Post and publisher Bill Regardie and his magazine Regardie’s; dodging an eight-year FBI sting with the quickness of an NFL wide receiver, before he was arrested for sniffing cocaine in 1990; bringing prosperity to DC from the poverty years of Ronald Reagan’s recession through the early desperate years of George H. W. Bush’s recession; hiring thousands of blacks to DC government jobs during his 16 years as mayor; turning DC into a example of black political and economic power; creating more black millionaires during his tenure than, according to some, any DC mayor since; and recruiting hundreds of thousands of blacks nationwide into the league of black pride.

For these accomplishments, many blacks affectionately called Barry “Mayor for Life,” though his enemies turned this rose of a label into a crown of thorns.

Kaepernick’s protest of the American flag and the national anthem on the gridiron might eventually rank him with these intergalactic stars in the fight for racial and social justice. A few reasons suggest this possibility.

We cherish the first
Like Parks, Evers and Barry, and as instigator of this particular form of protest in sports, Kaepernick acknowledges that America might be a good place to live for some. But he also admits that because the country is so racist—so violent, so terrorist and a swamp boiling with bubbles of oppression on the surface caused by ever erupting volcanoes of hate at the bottom—he admits that America does not deserve blind loyalty or unwashed allegiance.

He mocks the racist and the white supremacist, the white evangelical Christian and the Republican Party, and nearly everything they believe in and preach about. He treats them as squirrels that can no longer defecate.

And he consecrated again an often understood moral and psychological concept: The best proof of leadership is to take the lead or be the first without crawling through the sewage of conceit.

He has thrown away the tuxedo of silence. He has demolished the castle of the docile black in sports. And he has built a place where activist blacks and others can inhabit with satisfaction.

He has inspired other professional athletes to follow his example. And many have—in the NFL, in the NBA, in the WNBA, in professional women’s soccer. Even high-school football players imitate him. And at professional and amateur sports events,  fans without hands over their hearts or still sitting in their seats during the national anthem mirror him.

And why shouldn’t they? As a wealthy professional athlete, as an NFL quarterback with a multi-year, multi-million-dollar contract, Kaepernick still asks blacks and whites “Is my protest justified? Does my stance harbor your secret desires for racial justice? Do you also demand an end to police terrorism against blacks? If so, why not join me on the inside lane of the race for truth and justice?”

The More Opponents You Create, the More Praise You Deserve
It’s almost impossible to see Kaepernick kneeling during the singing of the national anthem and not remember the actions of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the 200-meter gold and bronze medalists at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

Six months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and to protest racism in America, Smith and Carlos stood on the Olympic podium to receive their medals. They wore black socks and no shoes, pinned Olympic Project for Human Rights badges to their jackets, bowed their heads, and raised black-gloved fists in the black power salute while The Star-Spangled Banner played in the background.

For their actions, they were suspended from the U.S. Olympic team. They and their families received threats. And any financial gains they stood to receive after the Games dissolved like ice cubes in a hot pan. Yet, to this day, many blacks and others who adore racial justice still honor Smith and Carlos for actions worthy of an everlasting memorial.

Kaepernick has received similar reprisals from opponents of his protest. Yet, he vows to continue, because their opposition is merely the opposition of a sleep walker.

He has lost endorsements, but his resolve is as firm as steel. He has received death threats from Donald Trump racists and white supremacists, but he remains undeterred. He has endured criticism that his actions are unpatriotic, despite that criticism’s escape from reality. And he still stands tall and unmoved like a marble or granite monument, in spite of disdain from establishment and white-owned negroes.

His enemies condemn him for his consistent and persistent protest. But they who condemn him ought to condemn themselves for hypocrisy and hiding behind the iron curtain of jingoism.

And so like Parks, Evers and Barry, Kaepernick weathers the storm of animosity and the thunderstorms of resentment and bitterness with a tear and a smile.

Kaepernick Climbs Toward Preeminence?
Athletes like LeBron James and Carolina Panther quarterback Cam Newton seem to care more about keeping their endorsements and making money than the dignity and struggle of the black race. Thus, they desert preeminence, leaving it drier than a desert, when asked by the white media whether they support Kaepernick.

They answer openly “he has the right to protest, but I prefer not to protest,” while reasoning inwardly, “so as not to throw crap in the white man’s face.”

Courage—What a cop out! How weak! The courageous, the man or woman with the heart of a thousand gold bars, would reply “I’d rather die as a Martin Luther King, Jr., than baa and whine like a cow’s calf.”

We understand James and Newton’s fears. But we all experience fear, some out of courage, some because they are mice. Kaepernick, who I suspect experiences fear because of his protest, seems to endure his predicament because he is truly courageous.

Hence, we get the feeling he is someone special. He is as brave as a lion and as bold as the important clauses in a life insurance policy.

Lover of Justice—Furthermore, within the brainwashed crowd, the mutable, dumb-minded many cheer, while the lonely lover of justice moans—not because he fears, but because he yearns for the silent companions of justice to moan loudly with him.

As an active lover of justice, Kaepernick understands this sentiment. On the field of justice where he now plays—where every pass is a pass against racism, every block denounces white supremacy and every touchdown secures a seeming victory over injustice—a Kaepernick kneeling when the national anthem is sung rings his love of justice with halos and holy glitter.

Valor—There is little need to explain the valor that underlies Kaepernick’s protest. His protest has endangered his professional football career, but it has also encouraged other reticent and fearful athletes to protest also.

Subsequently, his actions have elevated him to a status of valor, to magnanimity if you like, to applause heard far beyond Mars or Jupiter, to regions spaceships dare not try to explore. And though Kaepernick does not wear the civil rights preeminence of Parks, Evers and Barry as of yet, he nonetheless has equaled them in courage, love of justice and valor.

Veterans to Kaepernick’s Defense
Kaepernick’s acts of defiance have garnered him praise from an unlikely source. Some people say his protest dishonors veterans and those currently serving in the armed forces. They say this even though Kaepernick repeatedly says his protest is against racism and not the military.

Yet, despite the criticism, many veterans, especially black veterans, from the Korean War to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, have come to his defense. For example, #VeteransForKaepernick tweets like the following would make any soldier in the war for racial and social justice twerk with joy:

—Blake J. Stanfill @ShimmiHendrix
My father, a Marine, served his country in Vietnam. He says "we're far from justice for all" #VeteransForKaepernick
9:39 PM - 30 Aug 2016

—Kristen Meghan @KristenMeghan
#VeteransForKaepernick I am a disabled veteran & haven't stood for the Anthem since I separated. We are not free!
11:43 PM - 30 Aug 2016

—Jigga Jeaux @JoeOnDemand
I serve for his right to protest.. I don't serve for Police Brutality.. #VeteransForKaepernick
9:43 PM - 30 Aug 2016

Yet, even those inside the military who have followed Kaepernick’s example suffer reprisals for their actions. For instance, Navy intelligence officer Janaye Ervin refuses to salute the American flag. And for her protest, she has had her security clearance revoked and faces further punishment, including possible jail time, demotion and a dishonorable discharge.

A Hero is More Than Just a Patriot
We wonder what white right-wingers and their negroes mean when they accuse Kaepernick (and, no doubt, Ervin) of not being patriotic. If by unpatriotic they mean support your country but expose its sins, on rare occasions they could be right. But if by patriotic they mean support your country and keep your mouth shut about its sins, they’re definitely wrong.

Either way, those dwarfs of integrity themselves do not meet the criteria of true patriotism. Their courage is morally bankrupt; their love of justice is in recession; and their valor intermingles insincerity with insomnia.

To counter such hypocrisy, one primary attitude should guard the dignity of minority groups and protect them from the deceptions and iron masks of tyranny. Distrust. Without distrust, one becomes as deer to demagogues as slaves; with distrust, you rise like heat to become a Rosa Parks, a Medgar Evers, a Marion Barry.

We hope Kaepernick remains Kaepernick for the rest of his life, and never renounces the magnanimity of his actions. And if he does persist, Parks, Evers and Barry will reach down from the heaven of black accomplishments and greet him with a handshake and a hug.