If you are a bible reader you know that the biblical god punished those who worshiped idols. Idols are reified things, statues, flags, crowns, rosary beads, all things. To me, the biblical god is closer to a concept than a thing. As an atheist, it is to me confounding that so many of my fellow Americans think things are sacred, things like our flag or a song. But because they do think those things are sacred they are the very symbols with which a knelt NFL player can express dismay over American injustice to his race.
The question I ask is which has a bigger impact on your life, the flag or the constitution?
18
For eloquence and power, Mr. Blow's words rank with those of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King.
38
Trump dishonors America by evading the draft &never serving his country and using bone spurs as the reason he couldn't serve. Three times. Trump dishonors America by not releasing his taxes in an arrogant and obnoxious refusal to be subject to law or protocol. His lack of transparency in all things makes him suspect in all his activities. His profanity and consistent rage dishonors American leadership proving him to be unreasonable, unread, unprepared and emotionally unstable. Trump incited his base during his campaign with calls for them "to rough em up" "throw em out" "don't worry, if you hurt em I'll pay your legal fees". Trump was never on a team;he can't be because there is no "I" in team, and he's all about I think, I thought, I said, I did. Trump lies, denies, tweets, deletes tweets, because truth is immaterial to him. He only cares about the illusion he is on the winning team. He's not, never was, never could be.
28
Even before there was a flag, or even a Declaration of Independence, the social construction of a "white race", previously undefined as such, was devised to ensure the subjugation of non-whites, propagate white privilege, and establish "whiteness" as dominating the American social order, from the early 1700s to now, ensconcing the "two-ness" Du Bois mentions. It's no accident that people of color became and remained "minorities". It was intentional. Now the sweep of history is slowly pulling back the covers on centuries of deceit through a modern day awakening, stoked by impatience with continued racial and social injustice 60 years after the Civil Rights movement began. A very fine job Mr. Blow of articulating where we are now.
28
This commentary is a painful read and warrants all the feelings of horror and shame which every American needs to feel reading it.
48
A brilliant synopsis Charles...thank you
29
The flag represents an ideal that our country has not achieved. The protests point out that discrepancy and I applaud those who have the celebrity, or notoriety, to bring attention to that through protest. And they are showing respect for the moment - they aren't manspreading on the bench and talking on cell phones during the anthem - they are quiet and dignified.
If one believes there is only one way to demonstrate respect for their country I would suggest a visit to North Korea to see how authoritarianism is really done.
26
Donald J. Trump displays himself daily as the incarnation of disrespect to everything decent about the USA. and humanity at large.
39
Trump of course knows about sacrifice in war personally. He evaded sacrifice not once but five times in the Viet Nam war ... a draft dodger par excellence while over 50,000 of his fellow americans gave it all up, as he carried on his self-indulgent hedonistic life style with absolutely no regrets or second thoughts.
21
What strikes me as extremely sad, Mister Blow, is that you express so eloquently the emotions which exist in the hearts and minds of men and women who have given so much to this country, while others till today refuse to acknowledge their pain and suffering.
Rubbing salt into this open sore, we have compounded that suffering. Under the alleged leadership of this nation's president, we witness a daily barrage of tweets which blatantly show the disengagement of a completely out of touch chief executive, a man so bereft of any intellectual ability to lead US, to express any emotional content in his speeches. Our semi-literate leader has not been able to muster a genuinely eloquent word of honesty, sincerity, compassion. He is detached from any nerve endings which lead to the heart. The United States has hit rock bottom. Its only direction is "up". Let US begin that journey.
DD
Manhattan
27
No mention of the disproportionate number of black servicemen killed/wounded in Vietnam as the result of a racially-biased draft.
29
What has disgusted and disturbed me the most is how quick conservatives have been to jump on DJT's bandwagon and speed it along. DJT cued up the outrage and so many people yelled Hurray! Let's go do our Leader's dirty work! One of my relatives just two weeks ago was posting pictures of her NFL game day party; then immediately she is swearing never to watch pro football again and weeping crocodile tears over the disrespect to our country. I never understood Kristallnacht before, but I am profoundly shocked at how quickly DJT whipped his followers into a vengeful, self-righteous fury. I wish everyone who takes a knee safety and blessings. You are the brave sung of in our anthem.
47
I got into an argument and ended a long term friendship the night Zimmerman was acquitted. I didn't realize that anyone, let alone my pals, could think that there never should have been a trial and that this was a good result. I was painfully naive to the deep resentment and racism that exists among otherwise nice people. The players have very right to kneel, stand, or stay in the locker room. I have very right to care about others too.
40
"But I am also infuriated by his framing: that this has nothing to do with race (whenever you hear that, know that the subject at hand must have everything to do with race)"
I'm sorry, but I'm of the old school where such an assertion requires actual proof, and not just the word of a columnist with a wide audience. We're all best served when we stick to what we can prove, instead of broad generalizations designed to sidestep the need for proof in the first place. It's a tactic Trump would no doubt embrace, and has.
9
The same flag that covers the coffins of our fallen heroes who shed their blood on behalf of this nation is mocked by NFL Players who make more in a week than a solider earns in a year.
9
Did you even bother reading the article?
First place, nobody is mocking the flag. Second place, the heroes who get killed in combat are often black. Which apparently you didn't realize because you didn't read the article.
Good heavens. I get so tired of this willful ignorance!
Finally, and read my lips because this is important: "the flag" stands for the US, our Constitution, our ideals, all of our people, and our struggle to become a more perfect union, and not just the military.
Yes, the military is important. So are the arts of peace, the ideals of a civil society. Working to accomplish those ideals is not an insult either to the flag or to the military.
Why is this so difficult to comprehend?
37
Kneeling has always been an even greater show of respect than standing. The kneeling players implore us all to live up to the ideals our flag represents. The substance is greater than the symbol.
28
Twice a day, on U.S. military reservations around the world, time appears to stop as honor is rendered to the Colors. The Flag is raised or lowered while a bugle plays over the installation's speaker. All cars come to a stop, military personnel salute and civilians place a hand over their hearts. Everyone is still, except one Soldier, Airman, Sailor or Marine.
All personnel driving on the installation must stop. Servicemembers and government civilian personnel will turn off their vehicles and if safe to do so, exit their vehicles and render the appropriate honors. Individuals outside of buildings will render the appropriate honors to the flag during the ceremony.
Disabled persons and small children are not required to exit their vehicles. If in a group in a military vehicle or bus, only the senior occupant exits the vehicle and renders honors.
When you hear the first note, come to the position of attention and face the flag (or the direction the music is coming from if the flag is not visible).
Servicemembers in uniform render the hand salute at the first note of “To the Colors.” Normally the flag is faced when saluting unless duty requires you to face in another direction. At the conclusion of the music resume your regular duties.
5
The military exists to protect and is subordinate to the civil society. Discipline is the core of military operations and the protocol you describe is in its service. If we ever evolve beyond war we will still need the military for emergency response. It is society's immune system, but can be taken to excess, just like an autoimmune disease. If you applied military protocol to everyone, we would not be America, we would be North Korea.
16
White people always want to define for me about wahat it’s like to be black in our White Supremacist society and how I should feel as a black man living in the society. They never want to listen or get offended very easily if you tell them the truth.
29
It has always been sad that so many Americans chose to ignore the history of African Americans in our country, but with this noxious, idiotic president condoning ignorance and racism it is not only sad but frightening.
21
Let's just suppose it's the other way around. White people have been enslaved by the black people, shot or killed by black police for no good reason and the white people protested during the anthem with a knee. I really wonder if the protest would be such a big deal.
It is all about racism, pure and simple. Unfortunately, Donald Trump is using this to appeal to his bigoted far right white evangelical so called "Christian" base. Why do you suppose Roy Moore just won in Alabama, because he is even more of a racist than Trump.
23
It is about Black injustice! Police brutality toward Blacks! Economic abuse aimed at Blacks! Black voter suppression! !!!
If anyone attempts to lie and say "It is about the flag". Set them straight with the meaning of their dignified, legal protest.
19
Well said Charles. Thank you.
15
Thank you, Charles, for providing the grim and shameful history lesson of the black experience in America. While it only scratches the surface, I fear that far too many white Americans are blithely unaware of the staggering dimensions of the statistics you've provided.
And these hideous statistics are merely a dull reflection of the enormous depth of pain, degradation, humiliation and hate which black Americans have suffered and stoically endured for the last four centuries at the hands of white, "Christian" Americans. Even after the slaves were emancipated and acknowledged as citizens, it took almost another century of Jim Crow before "separate but equal" was officially repudiated by our Supreme Court in 1954.
Now, almost seven decades later, we have an avowed racist sitting in our Oval Office and police around the nation still execute unarmed blacks on the street with near impunity. When black Americans (be they BLM activists or NFL players) rise in protest of this open racism in our government and "justice" system - they are castigated by Trump trolls as "unpatriotic", "rioters", "criminals" and "Communists" (listen to AM talk radio if you doubt this).
Patriotic Americans of all colors, creeds and political persuasions see this openly and virulently racist backlash and we are alarmed, ashamed and resolute that "this will not stand". Some of us naively thought America was close to becoming "post-racial". Now we bitterly know better.
And (someday), We Shall Overcome.
14
Let them kneel, but tax them at the highest rate since they are in the top 0.1%
7
Don't you think they're in the highest tax brackets already?
7
When will Mr. Blow recognize that he is living in 2017 and whether he wants to acknowledge it or not, conditions today are not the same as they were 100 years ago (W.E.B. Du Bois) or 73 years ago (George Stinney). I understand that grievances must be nourished and outrage stoked but is the criticism of millionaire professional athletes in 2017 analogous to slavery and lynchings? To ask the question is to answer it.
16
It must be terribly hard to be objective today when everything in your eyes is yesterday. Constantly retelling it cannot change that fact. The only person who can atone for my father's sins is him but he's been dead twenty years. Don't send me his bill and expect to get paid.
11
Charles Blow, once again articulating pain, history and injustice with appropriate anger and bewilderment. You and Mr Kaepernick are heroic, unafraid and visionary.
24
Its time for VET's and GOLD STAR FAMILIES to Place a flag on the coffin next youth who is unjustly killed by Violence by GANGS, POLICE or unintentional Gunshots. They are our Fellow Americans who lost their lives before they could show their fellow Americans how they could make AMERICA GREAT. Its time to to recognize, honor address the casualties of our Flawed policies. A loss of life in or out of Uniform is an equal loss of an American Life. Ranger SGT VET
13
Thank you Mr Blow, spot on as always. Your articles are a clear moral light in a time thick with abhorrent racist sludge. Just a quick amendment to your sentence: 'the blood memory of the black *person* is long in this country.'
14
I have always thought that in taking his knee, Kaepernik (and now others) are praying for our flag -- that it may be purified of some of the sins committed in its name.
16
I doubt that. Most of the overpaid crybabies in the NFL are not even aware of any "sins" committed in the name of the flag. I really doubt Kaepernik darkens the door of a church on Sunday, or Saturday, or any other day.
And what "sins" do you propose have been committed in the name of the flag? The saving of an entire continent in WWII was a sin? Sure, rogue players in Vietnam committed some atrocious acts, but why paint with a broad brush the entire country?
And, Mr. Blow, more blacks are incarcerated today simply because they are the ones committing the crimes. And I bet you think I'm a racist for saying that.
8
Everything you say is true. White people, like me, don't think about the gift of our genes. My heart aches for people who have darker skin. The irony of this is that life started in Africa. There is one race: The human race. Hatred runs rampant in this country. My heart breaks every time another dark-skinned person is shot, or imprisoned or treated rudely. Many of these vicious, unkind people go to Church on Sunday. They believe they are good when they are horrible, mean racists. It is truly sickening.
11
You want to get your message to the power structure in the US. How about tearing down the Hamptons, not tearing down statues. Take your pitchforks to the Maidstone Arms, Martha's Vineyard and the hills above Los Angeles, How about rioting in Palm Beach, La Jolla, Bel Air, Malibu, Tribeca & Kalorama, not Baltimore. Why antagonize the large number of people who could be brought in as allies and does nothing to pierce the heart of the problem. Sure you get your point across, but do you really move the needle. That I'd like to see.
12
"But I am also frustrated by this framing: That this has nothing to do with race..."
This rings true in the same way that the phrase "this isn't about money" rings true.
The statistics, that is to say facts, presented in this column are shocking. Nauseating. America cannot be allowed to regress towards the mindset that allowed these unspeakable atrocities to occur. Vigilance is vital.
7
I had a family member who fought in WWII. He did not believe kids should say the Pledge of Allegiance, that the National Anthem should be played at ball games or that people should be 'required' to stand at attention during the anthem. He was certainly a patriot who loved our country and who fought for our nation. Why didn't he like the pledge of allegiance or standing during the anthem? Because he said that's what fascists do. The whole point of a democracy is that the people should be critical of the government and should not be forced to swear an oath or to show allegiance to a symbol such as a flag. To him, pledging allegiance or being 'required' to salute the flag (except if you are actively in the military) is fascist and the antithesis of a democracy. A democracy earns the respect of its citizens every day and should never assume it. I think he had a good point... and he had observed the evil results of fascism first hand. Black people in America have every right and good reason to protest and they are helping our nation to stay a vibrant democracy by exercising that right. I respect the people who don't like this form of protest, and understand where they are coming from. But, I hope they will give the issue more thought and dedicate themselves to making this a far more just and equitable land. I'll take a vibrant democracy with people rolling somersaults over an autocratic fascist state with everyone lined up at attention any day.
30
I gave up flag waving a few months after Bush and Cheney used 9/11 as an excuse to create a spy network to watch us all. I stopped saying the pledge of allegiance when I was asked to say "Under God:" I am an atheist.
The flag to me is nothing more than a conservative rally symbol. It is not a rally I will attend as an independent.
As for blacks, I think it is outrageous that DAs and judges are so beholding to the police, in supporting criminal prosecution, that they look the other way whenever possible. Blacks are not alone in being victimized by police. It is now a class thing. Police are now directed at outsiders of all types and races. We are all potential victims of the police, whether it's being hounded by a local sheriff for being out of town or being pulled out of a car and beaten just for being black.
There is nothing left to do but square things when the revolution winds up in the streets.
15
Trump's railing at NFL players who do not stand for the national anthem gives us a clear view of his glaring ignorance of the Constitution. Its framers had the foresight to promulgate the 1st Amendment which guarantees freedoms of speech, expression, religion, assembly, and the right to petition the government. By refusing the stand for the anthem, these athletes are merely exercising their constitutional right, something that not unsurprisingly escapes our president, whose first reaction to people who rub him the wrong way is to punish them, in this case, by firing them. Imagine if Donald were the owner of an NFL franchise that made him boatloads of money and his team did not stand for the anthem. Would he fire the entire team and abandon a money-making machine? That question is rhetorical.
11
This activity is not a protest of our flag or anthem, it is forcing attention on our nation's willingness (yea eagerness) to lie, obfuscate, deny, and rewrite the truth about our nation. Many are noble when given the opportunity but many are also venal when given the opportunity. This happens more to people who cannot hide their difference but it happens to anyone who is different and makes it known. The only way the Irish, the Jews, the Polish, etc. could thrive or even to survive was (and is) to assimilate. The only reason they could do this is that they were not visibly different. However, to assimilate is to deny one's difference and to deny one's difference is to deny one's identity. So, since black people cannot assimilate because the difference is visible, they must, they must, draw attention to unfair and unjust treatment. Many cheers for anyone who uses their visibility to make this point. One only hopes it will begin to make America great for the first time.
13
It seems to me that the real disrespect to our flag is shown by the clueless administrators, juries and judges who forgive the unforgivable murder of nonthreatening black citizens by rouge police officers. We should all bend a knee in memory of the slain innocents.
15
Trump's words proclaim 'America First'. His actions shout 'America Last'.
7
The recent opinion piece by Brent Staples "When White Supremacy Ruled Washington" clearly points out how during Woodrow Wilson's and Warren Harding's administrations mapped out Jim Crow policy that was orchestrated to disenfranchise Blacks from access to the middle class.
45's calling out NFL owners to FIRE players for not standing (or next, if you belong to the "wrong" party or voted a particular way) is an outright ATTACK on equality to ALL American's right to one's own "pursuit to happiness...!"
"The white supremacist agenda pushed by the U.D.C. was ascendant in Washington when the Virginia-born Woodrow Wilson became president in 1913. Wilson promptly filled his administration with segregationists who worked diligently to segregate as much of the work force as they could. Highly paid black workers were driven out or confined to lower-paying jobs, undercutting the nascent black middle class. Many black workers were barred from offices, bathrooms and lunch tables that they once had shared with white co-workers.
The officially sanctioned segregation that took root during the Wilson era deepened under President Warren Harding, whose Southern-born commissioner of public buildings and grounds segregated even the tennis courts near the Washington Monument. The dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922 was staged as a Jim Crow event, with black dignitaries banished to a weed-strewn Negro-only seating section where they were roped off from whites and guarded by Marines."
8
Any challenge to the symbols that the bulk of white America cherish or any of the myths that they have constructed about themselves and the republic, even when those symbols and myths are an affront to Red, Black, and Brown freedom, as the Star Spangle Banner is--just read the third stanza—guarantees a visceral reaction by them.
Execution and exile is the American way for those who take a stand for justice – from Gabriel Prosser to David Walker to Denmark Vesey to Nat Turner to John Brown to Malcolm X to Muhammad Ali to John Carlos and Tommie Smith to Dr. King to Colin Kaepernick— and calls America on its hypocrisy of democracy and justice for Black people in these “yet to be united states.” The bulk of white America vilifies anyone who challenges the lie of white supremacy or who offends the white sensibility.
Professor Harry Edwards writes in the 50th anniversary edition of his book, “The Revolt of the Black Athlete,” “...White supremacist racism is America’s “ORIGINAL and CONTINUTING SIN....[B]oth chauvinistic patriarchy and White supremacy were fundamental to generating the necessary political appeal to White voters who in the majority elected Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. Today, White supremacist racism remains this nation’s most corrosive, divisive, and volatile institutional, political, and social-cultural burden, and it most vigorously confronted and vociferously addressed in every realm and within every context of American life.”
7
For anyone who felt that Mr. Blow's slavery summary was unnecessary because it's in the past: the KKK has grown its membership by leaps and bounds in Trump's inaugural year, and when they march with their semi-automatic guns to preserve the confederacy, Trump calls them "many fine" people.
The question is not whether black men have earned the right to kneel before our flag.
The question is why we are ALL not kneeling with them.
All people of decency need to take a knee to say we will condemn any government representative, including Trump, who does not condemn the rising KKK and neo-Nazi groups. We also need to take a knee to say we will each do our part to help equalize civil rights and economic opportunity, regardless of color, gender, religion or class.
Do it because you care - or do it because you believe our nation's economy will grow by leaps and bounds when more people not only don't live in fear, they are equipped to achieve their full potential.
Just do it.
17
He (the vet) lost a knee so he (the player) could take a knee. That's democracy. It's messy. If you love the flag, glued to the back of it is the Constitution. The flag represents the constitution. The constitution stands for freedom of speech. Men and women have died for it. Not for the pretty cloth of red, white and blue. For the rights. Soldiers fight our wars. Keep our constitution. Allow us the freedom to protest, to speak.
Imagine this statue in the park: a black NFL player, in his uniform, and a white vet with a shiny prosthetic leg, in his uniform. Standing together, with their arms around each other. That's democracy. The blessed fight for the blessed freedom for ALL Americans.
7
I am the same age as our Dotard president. But I still remember the fear we had in the 60's about going to fight in Vietnam. I was luckier then a lot of my friends, because I got a deferment for college, medical school, and the got a Berry deferment to finish my surgical training. Then I did my duty to my country and served for two years at Fort Meade in Maryland.
Donald, while watching HIS friends patriotically go to war, kill people and get killed, got his rich father to find a doctor to give him a medical deferment for a heal spur. Donald was a draft dodger.
Other then desertion during battle, there is nothing more cowardly and un-patriotic then dodging the draft in the time of war. A draft dodging coward does not have the moral authority to call anyone else un-patriotic, especially when they are protesting peacefully. Shame on him.
And what about his able-bodies sons and daughters? Have they done their patriotic duty to volunteer for the army and fight four our rights? Will they go and fight if their father gets us into a war again against North Korea? I don't think so.
Shame!
12
You do realize Bill Clinton dodged the draft by going to England for college, right?
5
Lots of self-serving conclusions and a straw man equals propaganda.
5
Why does everybody shy away from asking Trump why, if he's such a patriot, and venerates the flag so much, and wants to honor the service of the men and women who fought for this country...that he pretended to have a bone spur on his heel when it came time for him to fight for his country?
Mr. Blow shows the restraint long associated with African American protests against their unfair treatment, in not mentioning the fact that when Donald Trump had his chance to serve in the military, he faked an injury to get out of his commitment. Like other rich kids, he got his doctor to write him a note, and that was it. He spent the Viet Nam years padding his pocketbook in Manhattan.
And now he has the nerve to impugn the patriotism of black athletes, who show more courage every Sunday than Trump has shown in a pampered lifetime of Get-Out-of-Jail free cards?
A former president, whom Trump claims to admire for his grit and audacity, Andrew Jackson, was known as Old Hickory. Trump should be known as Old Bone Spur, so we can always remember who this Phony Patriot is: a man who can't even remember which heel his supposed bone spur was on - and who, when asked about his service in the military says, "Not getting syphilis in the 60's was my Viet Nam."
Go ahead, President Bone Spur: what were you saying about back athletes' patriotism?
13
What has been lost in all of this is that before 2009 teams did not come out until after the National Athem ceremony was over.
What seems not to be widely known is that The Department of Defense began to pay professional keagues millions to be part of the ceremony as a marketing ploy.
This prompted The Senate oversight Committee to investigate , and prompted John McCain to call these displays false patriotism.
pathos.com
law news. Com
15
Whether you agree or disagree with the NFL players, this whole tempest in a teapot, plays into the hands of Russia, which just loves to see the US citizenry squabbling amongst themselves over who is the more righteous!
Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands eight days after a record breaking storm this administration can't literally deliver the goods! if this were a mainland city Congress would be reeling from the outrage. But it's not, and this is parr for the course under the Republicans and now under Trump: Big mouth, ineffective delivery. Bush couldn't get it together either.
5
There is no loyalty test to prove you are a patriotic citizen. There are times of crisis when one's nation needs your commitment and even willingness to risk death in its defense, but standing, sitting or doing backflips during the national anthem has nothing to do with it. Trump and a bunch of hard right people have tried for decades to impose some sort of test of citizenship but there is none. It is not anywhere in the Constitution and, what's more, we are NOT subjects of the state (contrary to England, still, and elsewhere), the state is our subject, our instrument for achieving the common good. We are not in the state's power and it may not compel us to do anything other than obey basic laws.
In a way, all this screaming about the football players only serves to show how narrow minded many in our country are. We can't handle a little bit of non-traditional behavior? Oh, dear, why are we so sensitive?
30 or 40 years ago, football players might have been viewed as little more than hired hands. They have, thanks to many changes, achieved a status far beyond that and when good citizens choose to dissent, especially in a non-violent way that risks public scorn, we can either pay attention or ignore them, but paying attention is the wiser course.
A sportscaster in Dallas, long thought of as a far right wing city, defended the players in an on-air commentary recently. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNJUsE7pEs4
5
The flag is a symbol of death to the World as we have killed millions across this World and made everywhere we have gone worse.
3
Justice Kennedy concurred in Texas v. Johnson with something like “It is poignant yet fundamental that our flag protects those who hold it in contempt.” Our flag represents our nation and our nation deserves commendation and criticism, but nobody gets it right all the time, and our flag protects our right to try harder and do better. That protection should be revered and protected, and although some find it desirable to desecrate the flag to draw attention to their preferences, it is nonetheless unpleasant to see destroyed a symbol that has fostered so much good. C’mon people now . . .
1
As I understand the action, and statements made by participants, those players who knelt did show respect for the flag -- they were upright, silent and other than the posture chosen, there was no action taken that could indicate disrespect -- and they are as conscious as any other citizen of the number of black soldiers who died fighting under that flag.
8
Like all social and cultural phenomena, unpunished police shootings of unarmed African-Americans can only be fully understood in historical context. Mr. Blow points out that, in this case, the context is an unbroken four-century history of homicide and impunity.
A white American can, and should, be outraged by the injustice of the pattern of shootings and acquittals. But outrage at injustice pales almost to vanishing before the personal experience of these shootings as nothing more than the current manifestation of the homicide and impunity that began, but most certainly did not end, with slavery.
In that context, one can only wonder at the restraint and moderation of these protestors.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
8
Thank you Charles for a tremendous historically review. It may accomplish in some people what is needed to address the injustice being visited upon African Americans (especially young men)--a change of heart. Changing the heart of America was the core love-centered strategy of Dr. King and it should still be pursued.
But as Dr. King learned, America is strongly driven by economic interests and it is a key driver in the horrible numbers you share. Economic exploitation built this country and some of the wealthiest want to continue that tradition via low wages, red-lining, tax breaks, profiteering, and legal protection for what is essentially theft (i.e, the U.S. banking system). So the flag has been paid for with our blood and with our money. I hope that the NFL and other rich sports figures begin somehow to channel those resources (where they invest) into correcting injustice. The second phase of an economic civil rights movement needs to emerge. The current generation has new tools (social media and the internet) and the resources to make a real difference.
3
People who are offended that the NFL protests somehow insult and offend our troops who fight for the flag have got it wrong. The troops do not fight for the flag - it is merely a symbol of America, like Uncle Sam, yet not America itself. The troops fight for the PEOPLE of America, ALL Americans, and the RIGHTS of ALL Americans, such as the right to protest and criticize our government and institutions. Until there is true equality and justice for ALL Americans there will be reasons to protest and people protesting. The troops have nothing to do with this NFL protest - this is another way to change the subject and reframe it in order to NOT have to deal with the true issues they are protesting.
3
And along with the thousands of attrocities Mr. Blow points out that have been counted and measured, the untold stories of violence and abuse of people of color in this country continue to this day.
It remains a tragedy and a travesty and stains this country and it flag more than most will ever know.
3
Bless you, Charles Blow. I'm a fairly privileged white male, and, despite my radical left political views, I need the reminders about just how awful this history was and still is. "Ghastly" is the word for it.
"People upset with those who kneel seem to be more angry about black 'disrespect' than black death." I suspect that they actually /do/ understand how wrong black death at the hands of the law is, and that they use anger about the flag to distract themselves.
Some of the commenters point with outrage to Kaepernick's socks. They set a high standard for the behavior of protesters. I'm reminded of Kurt Vonnegut writing about Native American protesters at a convention, I forget which one, waiting in a hotel lobby for a chance to present their grievances to someone in authority, sitting absolutely rigid because they knew that if they as much as smiled they'd be dismissed as carnival "redskin" comic relief. Trump's hats, by contrast, do respect the majesty of the flag, I guess.
2
Mr. Blow keep writing and informing us. You are an important voice amid an increasingly frightening reality. I have my own struggle as a white person and have an ambivalent relationship with my skin color. Personally, I have never felt patriotic. While I never attend events where the pledge of allegiance or the national anthem are sung, if I did I would express my outrage by not participating.
2
Please, I am begging you all. If racism is "deeply entrenched", "institutionalized" and whites are all spoiled, pampered "privileged" princes and princesses, how is it that there racial discrimination in hiring , housing, and education are all ILLEGAL? What was Affirmative Action for? How is it that older Americans, NOT African Americans are the most excluded group in hiring and employment? If racism is so rampant, how is it that football players are making 20 times the wage of most white workers? What is it you want exactly?
15
These laws are necessary because of systemic unconscious racism that persists. No law is always enforced, unfortunately. Murder is illegal. Drug use is illlegal. The former still happens. The latter happens all the time. There are some wealthy African Americans? That's your argument? Their numbers are dwarfed BR wealthy privileged white people and by less fortunate people who are black. The average income is lower. The way they are treated by employers and police is different.
One only needs to see how our forty fourth president was treated by many including most members of the opposition party and compare it to the pass our current president gets on so many issues in order to see the difference
9
It may be illegal, but anyone who tried to say they were discriminated against, it won't end well. Age discrimination is also illegal. I was the victim of that, but heaven help me if I had brought age discrimination charges against my employer. You ask, "How is it that football players are making 20 times the wage of most white workers?" Le's put it this way: They have worked their heads off to develop their athletic talents, put their bodies on the line on the football field, and their bodies wear out via injuries very quickly, so their ability to make these salaries is very limited. The football players who make the most money, however, tend to be the white quarterbacks, e.g., Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Dan Marino, etc. Those are also the ones who get big commercial deals when their on-field football careers are over.
What is it that young black men want, exactly? How about not to be stopped by police and worry that their lives are going to end over a broken taillight? Have you ever been stopped for jaywalking? It's a common thing for a young black male to be stopped for jaywalking and end up spending a night in jail. There are great police officers, and there are some that are equally bad. My white son does not have to worry about these things; the young black man with whom I work does. He drives a junky car because it's all he can afford. He's stopped all the time. He has a college degree, is articulate and talented. That's what people want. Exactly.
5
Yes, racism is 'deeply entrenched'. No, whites are not all spoiled, pampered or privileged - that would be a stereotype as grossly erroneous as that of any of other racial groups. It is action by the Government that has made racial discrimination illegal, and that brought in affirmative action to address systematic, institutionalized, racial injustice. From their very inception, these types of programs faced tremendous resistance, including persistent legal battles, from a fairly large sector of our population. Heck, we even had a civil war because of that. The reasons for discrimination against older Americans are different from those against African Americans - neither is justified. Football players are paid well because they play well - not because they are Blacks or Whites. Barack Obama even became the President - a huge segment of our population went apoplectic about that and elected DJT. Obama was qualified, dignified, and brought nothing but integrity to the office of the presidency. The response to his Presidency was nothing but racism. We, as a country, have made tremendous progress against numerous social injustices - that does not mean that we have achieved the ideal where all men and women and transgenders are treated equally. What I want is exactly what you want: to be treated with respect as a human being.
4
Don't forget John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics. The LA Times accused them of engaging in a "Nazi-like salute". Death threats, and much more. brent musberger, the highly accoladed sports commentator:
"Smith and Carlos looked like a couple of black-skinned storm troopers, holding aloft their black-gloved hands during the playing of the National Anthem. They sprinkled their symbolism with black track shoes and black scarfs and black power medals. It's destined to go down as the most unsubtle demonstration in the history of protest."
and much more venom from the white establishment.
8
The louder is the criticism of NFL or other sports figures kneeling during the Anthem, the more important it is for them to kneel. An NFL game watched by millions is the perfect venue, as long as a talking head with a microphone makes it clear why they are kneeling. Watch the protests in the Ken Burns' depiction of The Vietnam War to see examples of what protest can accomplish. Tough, if Trump's acolytes are offended.
20
Charles you can't cure stupid.You are not being focused No one especially a veteran is questioning the patriotism of any of our soldiers.I believe as most decent people do that black lives matter.The action of the protesting athletes muddies the issue.Now we are talking also about disrespect for the flag and that confuses the issue.Take out a full page add in in the NYT.Have a moment of silence before the game after the anthem is sang.Set up a foundation for the families who lost a loved one due to police violence.Leave the flag alone it is counterproductive do disrespect it.
5
The flag is just a piece of cloth. The notion that these protests somehow show "disrespect" to the flag is simply nonsense.
7
Reading this column, I feel I have seen a replay of the TV series Root all over again - hair standing straight on the neck, palms sweating, face grimacing in pain, eyes squinting as if readying to run away from the TV screen.
I came to this country over 50 years ago after finishing high school and 4-year of undergraduate college courses. I did not get to study the basics of American history that, I presume, students get to read in high schools here. But if I had read all that I have in this piece, I'm not sure I would have had any nerve or sensibility left unbruised to go on with it any furter.
Yes, I, too, want to know how dare the rest of us ask our black athletes these truly insensitive questions? Which one of us carries the load of a cruel, soul and spirit killing legacy? Which one of us has grown in a community where the heavy hand of law is not felt daily? - where the daily routine of life does not remind you of your second class status?
A man who loves to grovel in gold, glitz and glitter has the least right to ask these questions.
11
Do Americans truly hold the flag to be sacred? I'm sorry, but I seriously doubt that many do. I don't see life come to a halt and a salute in stadiums, in schools, anywhere when the national anthem is played. People go get their popcorn, go to the potty or whatever until it's over. I'm sure a minority is truly respectful of our "patriotic" symbol, but I don't see it much in any form of flag ceremony. We Americans take this symbol for granted until some person of true conscience and humility (and black) appears to "disrespect" it.
Pardon me, but I truly support Kaepernick and others who are making this protest. I won't do it myself, but I know why they are doing it and respect them for it. There are Christian sects that won't salute the flag because they see it as an "image" which comes ahead of their God. The supreme court granted them the right to make that choice. Let's get a grip folks. Our president has overstepped his authority, created a totally unnecessary and ugly fight that, by law, he cannot win.
15
"...created a totally unnecessary and ugly fight that, by law, he cannot win". What doe "the law" have to do with anything in this discussion? When did Trump or anyone else suggest that 'taking a knee' is unlawful?
But since you brought it up, the NFL players and coaches are employees. By law - each and every one of them can be fired for what they're doing and the owners would be protected under the law. Unfortunately, the NFL owners don't have the spine to rock the boat.
One thing these pampered millionaires might consider is HAVING A POINT for their protest. Most are protesting Trump - and nothing else.
1
Tell that to my uncle who came home in a box from Vietnam draped in that flag in '68...
2
Mr. Blow's editorial can be summed in three words: Burn Baby, Burn.
In his mind - and I suspect in them minds of most liberals - America herself is deplorable and irredeemable and neither she nor her symbols deserve any respect.
Unfortunately, liberal control of education and entertainment has inculcated a similar contempt in many people even those who are doing so well.
I stand with Donald Trump as he represents the America of our Founding Fathers who created the greatest nation on Earth and I will continue to salute the flag of that great country and stand for the Stripes an Stripes.
14
DT wouldn't risk being n harm's way (Vietnam war). but after learning how unclear the war really was I got cold feet too.
1
Eric,
Yes, Donny Dotard is such a shinning example of conservative rationale.
A five, 5, f-i-v-e, time draft dodger.
Filed Chapter 11 six, 6, s-i-x. times.
Involved in over 3500 lawsuits.
Missed, skipped and/or failed to show for 9 Jury Duties. The Donald has missed so many summonses, he was ordered to appear at a hearing on March 6. He didn't show.
Shall we go into his disregard for the emoluments clause? His nepotism?
His grifting and cons? $25,000,000.00 Trump University.
The list is endless. Shall we keep going?
Yet Eric thinks DT represents America and our Founding Fathers?
Says all i need to know.
9
I hope the American people stand up to greedy cowardly team owners and stop watching games on TV, stop buying NFL paraphernalia and do not buy any more tickets to games.
You will see just how fast these billionaire snakes will remember their country and begin enforcing the rules they wrote requiring players to respect the flag and the anthem.
1
As I watched Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary last night, I was appalled to learn about how some white soldiers taunted black soldiers by displaying confederate flags. Their black comrades did not warrant the same respect as those with lighter skin even though they were risking their lives and dying for their country. That, in a microcosm, seems to be the harsh reality of the situation to this day. In the eyes of a large segment of the American population, no amount of sacrifice, bravery, honor, or achievement warrants fair treatment if you are dark skinned. For what its worth Mr. Blow, there are many of us fair-skinned people who wish for our society to evolve to a point where all people are treated with respect and afforded equal opportunity regardless of complexion. We regard as completely preposterous the obsessive parsing of humanity on the basis of skin tone and wish nothing more than for us all to move beyond such medieval thinking.
12
Charles Blow insults the very flag that Union troops who freed the slaves carried into battle.
He insults the same flag that withstood the British bombardment of Fort McHenry and was raised over Iwo Jima, on the Moon and over the gaping wound in the Pentagon on 911.
Shame on Charles Blow.
Shame on the overpaid spoiled rotten brats in the NFL who stood for "God Save the Queen" but refused to stand for the Star Spangled Banner.
Shame on all liberals who despise their country and its symbols.
Trump is right.
15
These players and those that support them do not desecrate the symbols of our country. Indeed, they honor them. Too many forget the symbolism of the flag is that of American values. Those that fight for our country carry it in battle as a reminder of the essence of those values. Our First Amendment rights are foremost on the list of what separates us from authoritarian regimes. Trump worships symbols without recognition of there significance. He falsely claims this silent protest is an attack on our veterans and our nation. How little he knows. It is he who attacks the essentials of our democracy, creating divisions every time he opens his mouth.
16
Watch the old Archie Bunker re runs on TV . Almost word 4 word repeat. The Ken burns doc , Vietnam War" probably has similar disagreements.
1
There's nothing unpatriotic about flying the flag at half mast in honor of the dead. As I understand it, that's what kneeling is meant to symbolize. There is lot unpatriotic about debasing the presidency, however, as Trump does every day.
18
Mr. Blow,
I always had a sense of the injustice in the US, particularly with regard to our Black and Native American citizens. I sensed the hypocrisy of our government also extended to the wars we were involved in, and the territorial and commercial gains we sought and won; for example, the Mexican war, the Spanish American war and the Vietnam war. Of course, we also exploited Central and South America and the Middle East.
Despite all of our foibles, I always believed we were moving toward a more enlightened and compassionate society.
With the rise of the Tea Party, the radical right and Donald Trump, I realize I was diluting myself.
We will never have a modicum of justice in this Country as long as so many of our citizens are religious zealots who believe they have God's ear and who still cling to beliefs that are totally irrational.
I empathize with the sentiments you expressed in this column. I am an old white man and I am sad for America's future generations.
12
If America is such a racist country as our liberal progressive friends say, why did 250 thousand northern, union soldiers who were mostly white DIE to free black slaves?
13
They were drafted by President Lincoln.
12
That's only part of the historical narrative -- and just because those soldiers fought and died in the Civil War doesn't mean that everything is resolved.
Look at all the social injustice that's still going on today.
9
I think the current estimate is over 360,000.
6
Southerner here. Sr. yr. of high school was the first yr. of forced integration. It was a bit rough the first few months, but we all settled down and mostly decided to get along, and received an education in matters not involving academics. A tall gangly black student named Roger J. sat behind me in several classes. He was kind, funny and smart. One day, one of his "little brothers" (his name, not mine) mischievously decided to snatch my lunch bag. Roger, grabbed him by the shirt, thumped him on the head and informed him he'd better never catch him "actin' a fool" again.
So, for Roger and all our black brothers and sisters, if this old southern white lady has an opportunity and my knees will cooperate, I will gladly bend one.
25
Mr. Blow, continue on your mission!
You catalogued the lives lost, the blood shed by slaves and their descendants. You mentioned the African-Americans who fought in the Civil War.
Some of the commentators also noted the disproportionate number of African-Americans who have served in the military, especially since the institution of the all-volunteer armed forces.
So yes, a draft dodging, self-serving, racist, tax cheating, lying, thieving fraud of a so-called president has no right to impugn the patriotism of anyone, especially not of a group of Americans who have more than paid their dues
17
To claim that one MUST respect the flag is an anathema for what the Flag stands for: Freedom to speak out to tyranny.
23
I want to think that the ball players kneeling and linking arms last Sunday were protesting the President's view that political dissidents like Colin K. should be denied a livelihood, banished by their bosses. We have a President who became famous for firing young people. While black people men catch the brunt of his casual verbal violence, his contempt for civil society goes well beyond his racism. He thinks of his successful election as a hostile corporate takeover or a military putsch which allows him to denigrate his critics, bully his staffers while lining his pockets. I don't think the American people are going to suffer this fool quietly.
12
So many who enjoy white privilege deny the advantages they have in many guises. The most egregious is lecturing blacks on how much progress has been made from the time of lynchings, and how grateful Blacks should be to live along with them in their great country even though it's not perfect.
It is the creed of the subtle white supremacist and is insidious.
21
Please visit one of the thousands of low income mobile home parks occupied by working class whites all over this country and explain to them how privileged they are.
12
I'm half white and a jazz musician...do I get full white privilege? or just half?
4
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
- Sinclair Lewis
25
When socialism came to America, it was wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. And only later, when those symbols became politically inconvenient, did it disavow them for a more enlightened way of thinking that saw Christianity as backward and patriotism as latent fascism.
If you want to change something for the better in America, you could do worse than appeal to our common heritage as Americans and to our better angels. Sadly, many now believe the best way to effectuate change as denigrating the common institutions that many, if not most still hold dear.
2
All true, Mr Blow. But witness many of the clueless comments. The people who you wish to influence are morally deaf, dumb and blind, and have no wish to either be educated or change. Best of luck.
12
It has everything to do with race, as does the fact that not one hospital ship has yet been deployed to puerto rico. EVERYTHING from 45 has to do with advancing his race.
13
Or gratuitously demeaning any and all races and ethnicities besides his own.
10
Several navy ships have been sent to PR and more supplies ships etc left today. And if the Puerto Ricans want to leave the US, they can legally vote to do so, can't they?
8
I am amazed by arguments that kneeling during the pledge is the wrong way to protest. #Takeaknee has occasioned the most intensive, robust and widely inclusive discussion of racial injustice in America since Roots. And this discussion is long, long overdue. We cannot cure our society's ingrained, institutional racism until most Americans understand that we have a problem. So, thank you Mr. Blow and thank you Mr. Kaepernick. I am proud to call you Americans. I will do my best to amplify and support your message.
23
The honor guard's taking a knee while handing the folded flag to the deceased's family is a tradition at military funerals. Kneeling also reverently mimics the flag at half-mast. Colin Kaepernick and others have chosen a deeply respectful way to honor our soldiers while simultaneously protesting the entrenched racism in our society.
15
Candidate Clinton could not have been more cogent and relevant than her description of a large portion of Trump's base as "deplorable." That the illegitimate occupant of the White House continues to pour gallons of highly racist and divisive fuel on issue after issue involving non-white Americans makes Trump as deplorable an individual as a huge chunk of his base.
19
As always Mr. Blow, you add context to the moment.
As a member of the so called "dominant culture", I have learned to understand the privilege that comes with my white male skin; the doors that were already open when I arrived, all of the seats that were available to me at the counter and on the bus, and the bathrooms, swimming pools and water fountains that I could use without so much as a thought about why or who I was. I have also learned to recognize the struggles that other Americans, citizens of the same country, serving in the same wars, pledging to the same flag have had to overcome just to considered equal long after that equality was considered to be an unalienable right.
I have also learned to recognize the hypocrisy that seems to swirl and linger among those in my culture wielding such dismissive rhetoric as; "it's time to move on", while clinging to the ideal of the flag as a symbol only of our greatness and not acknowledging that it is also steeped in our rich tradition of freedom of expression.
9
I agree with all the diagnoses of the crimes of historical, persistent, and endemic racism. Police terrorism against blacks is commonplace. However, this is a fight poorly picked, and the solutions are not even hinted at in this article. Telling middle Americans they're evil racists will not lead to reform of the criminal justice system, at least there's no historical evidence of it.
Anger is fine. Solutions are better.
6
It's funny, but I have always found that the people standing with their hands over their hearts, mouthing the words to the national anthem are the ones that make me uncomfortable. It's called "blind faith", and I find it just as disconcerting as people mindlessly mouthing the words to the "Our Father" at church. God forbid some people have the ability to think for themselves and make a meaningful and thoughtful gesture with regard to our country and it's stated ideals rather than just following the crowd. Why is kneeling any less respectful than standing? Who decides that? Maybe Colin Kaepernick is actually showing more respect for the flag and our country. What's wrong with a bunch of guys locking arms during the national anthem?
9
With a nod to H.L.Mencken: The more they say it's not about race, it's about race.
10
With a nod to anyone with intelligence, the more they say that it IS about race, the more it isn't - it's about making excuses to justify their own weaknesses and lack of actions to fix their part of society.
6
Remember that, Enzo, the next time a working class white Trumpist blames immigrants, elites, globalism, liberals, democrats, and progressives for their own weaknesses and lack of actions to fix their part of society.
6
@enzo
No offense. But that comment shows a woeful lack of understanding of the situation.
To begin with; it's not "their part of society" -- it's OUR American society.
And YES, It's about race.
6
It seems to me that President Trump has done the NFL players a great favor--intended or not. His vocal condemnation has brought much more attention, and discussion, to their efforts. Perhaps it will cause a team owner to offer Colin Kaepernick a gig.
It would be great to have an editorial contribution from Mr. Kaepernick in these hallowed pages. Perhaps he could lay out his concerns in a manner that succinctly describes them--and his goals and objectives for protesting in the manner chosen.
Most of my Facebook friends appear to be offended by the NFL protest. I take that as a sign that Mr. Kaepernick and his friends are being effective. I wish that I understood their objectives better.
8
I am fed up with the victimization and divisive identity politics of Blacks which people like Mr. Blow constantly espouse. Blacks have enormous opportunity in this country - the greatest one in the history of the human race. They have a better chance here than anywhere else. If Blacks, or anyone for that matter, refuse to take advantage of the potential which exists here, it’s their own fault. Yes, we sinned as a country because of slavery. But it was abolished over 150 years ago at the expense of over half a million Americans. It is time to move on. The NFL players who are kneeling when the National Anthem is played have no idea what they are protesting. And no, Trump’s comments on this disgraceful act have nothing to do about race.
15
your comments illustrates a willful blindness- what superior knowledge do you have that those protesting racial injustice have no idea why they are protesting? I'll answer that: You have none.
Kaepernick and others have stated clearly that they are protesting the killing of unarmed black men with impunity by police, and other racial injustices.
The real question is why is that so hard for you to understand?
9
Slavery, the Civil War, foundational events in our country's history, still sear in everyone's mind. History is the nightmare that I try to escape from - James Joyce. We have not escaped. Southern whites are still seething over their loss in the Civil War. They still seethe over any benefit given to black people. They show up today as Trump supporters.
Black folks ,whose slave labor help make the country an economic power, still want a piece of the pie and not to be killed by the police. They take a knee.
Trump vs Kaepernick. Indeed a nightmare!
4
Admittedly my source of news is atypical, comes from reading 5 digital subscriptions (NYT, Washington Post, Washington Times, WSJ, Guardian X3,) and general browsing all day while on-line - but this senior Italian American female MD's sees refreshing solidarity demonstrated on the football field by the athletes and NFL coaches, and owners standing, kneeling together in what looks like a heartfelt tribute to the central justice in Colin Kaepernick's stance, and an effective shut out of the Blowhard in chief.
10
"Many black people see themselves simultaneously as part of America and separate from it, under attack by it, and it has always been thus."
I understand that. But it's time to put aside such grievances. As one born in 1952 -- yes, I'm white -- I remember when racism was the order of the day: separate schools, separate water fountains, balcony only in the cinema, interracial marriage forbidden, etc.
As a nation, we really HAVE improved with regard to race relations.
Is American perfect today? No.
But I hate to think that Abraham Lincoln was right about the following: two races cannot live on a continent without one race dominating.
If America is not very careful right now, this commotion about the NFL and the NFL players disrespecting our National Anthem will set us back at least 50 years -- in our hearts, anyway.
The public symbol of America's athletes not standing with hand over heart during our National Anthem is akin to those separate facilities I mentioned above. **sigh**
10
No it isn't. No one is being hurt by the kneeling.
5
You have to seriously ignorant or hateful to assume that every time your President Trump speaks, he is acting racist or against whatever group you feel that you are be part of. We expect Charles to be biased and driven by hate, else he wouldn't be writing for a party organ.
Even non-propagandists decry what has happened to the NFL (''No Fans Left''). With the progressive campaign to blame brain damage on football, the race-based attack begun by Colin K threatens to break the hold pro footballs has had on adult America since the 1950's.
As a devout progressive, Charles is going to hate the support football has in America because it doesn't have any power to sway elections, and MUCH worse, it highlights the power on the individual to change the outcomes of games.
Progressives can't sell collectivism when one guy has that much of a chance to decide games and even championships.
5
Kaepernick's cause was to focus attention on the current police race attacks.
2
What is "ignorant" is the notion that somehow American Progressives are pushing "collectivism," that the New York Times is a "party organ" or that talking about the historic persecution of black Americans constitutes "hate!"
10
Party organ, collectivism, propagandist...
Cliches that don't apply to the situation. They are just fun words you get to use against your fellow Americans. Who's being hurt? No one. Let America be.
7
The Reverend Jeremiah Wright preached a fiery sermon a few years ago in which he said "God bless America? I say, God [darn] America." Then presidential candidate Barack Obama, a member of the Wright's congregation, first tried to defend those words. Then he gave up the effort. Even he could not go that far.
We have a long tradition in the United States of political activism of all kinds. We welcome criticism and debate and even protest. But when you say, as Colin Kaepernick did, that you have no respect for this country, and when you show that disrespect in a way that figuratively slaps the face of all those who are there to watch a football game and not a political protest, for many people you go too far.
This country is a big melting pot. We have people of different races. Of different religions, or no religion. Of different sexes and sexual behaviors. Of different political parties. And we all have to live together.
The only way that will ever work is if we all share a love of this country and want to make her better. Stand for three lousy minutes and show respect, at least, for that idea and ideal.
11
Get rid of the anthem at sporting events and start a great jobs program for everyone who needs a job or who is getting starvation wages.
9
"People upset with those who kneel seem to be more angry about black “disrespect” than black death."
So well put, and so shameful of some of us.
Malcolm X once said that "of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research." If only most of our brothers and sisters were as interested in history as they are in mindless entertainment, we might have an interesting conversation about civil protest, and the meaning of justice in America. The way things are going around our national neighborhood I fear John Brown may have the last word.
“I, John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”
4
"... when forgiveness has never been sufficiently requested — nor the sins sufficiently acknowledged..." That is preposterous. The nation's majority elected its first African American to be its president a few years ago and again to a second term. I suppose that was racist too?
Perpetual grievance-mongering is getting long in the tooth, and you are only proving Colin Flaherty right about this issue.
5
According to your logic, protesting Against racism proves racists right!
4
In Northern Ireland the children are raised with the fresh resentments and group pride that their ancestors who actually experienced the events hundreds of years ago that feeds the conflict between contending groups. It's easy to develop righteous indignation that forgets nothing and sees all in the context of that point of view but it's hard to get past it. The history of African Americans contains enough real pain and deprivation from the meanness and selfishness and ignorance of larger society to sustain grievances and resentments for many generations into the future, and all of it would be perfectly justified. Our country has never really provided all it's children with a fair appreciation for the experiences of all who live in this country, which tends to leave them with the narratives which are popular with the people that they live. The contribution of African Americans is not really appreciated by the larger majority the way that it should be. The fact that African Americans tend to have a longer history in this country than the many millions descended from the huge immigration of people after the Civil War is rarely observed. The fact that most African Americans can only relate the history of family in this country means that this is their country in a way that few others can understand. The disparities of power, wealth, and criminal histories among some minorities is from deliberate efforts to exclude, but is usually treated as due to poor character.
3
To overcome the disparities between the long standing majority whose enjoyments of the advantages of this country continue to greatly exceed those enjoyed by minorities who still do not because of the discrimination which kept them from doing so many years ago, requires another surge of economic growth where the limitations are no longer in effect can be made up but also a general admission of the need to admit that prejudices against these minorities are still held by a minority of huge number, still, and to reach a consensus that it is no longer to be condoned.
The need to address continuing injustices is not being accomplished in any productive way as it is being handled, today. Whenever there is a possibility that bigotry is involved in any disturbing event, one side insists that it is while another insists that it's not, and the subsequent determination of facts reveal that neither were right as often as they were wrong. Nothing can be solved in this way.
2
Bending a knee seems wholly consistent with this writing:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
4
I am the child of Irish immigrants and I know the people of Ireland have a culture that places a high value on social justice. ireland's history of subjugation by Britain created an intimate understanding of injustice of all kinds including political, cultural, social and economic. Most of Ireland's population and Irish Americans would be the last to conflate discrimination against Irish immigrants with the plight of African slaves and their descendants. The Irish chose to come here, were white, spoke English and had the benefits of a Western European background that was not alien to this country.
5
Mr. Blow: I can't blame you one bit for your feelings. They are certainly valid. The first time I saw a photo of Mr. Kaepernick kneeling and learned why, I felt that he was mourning for his people and for our nation's lack of respect for the "other" and praying for change. Those who are making it an issue of patriotism are NOT patriots.
Patriotism has nothing to do with a piece of fabric or a song. Patriotism is about the nation and its people, their values, their rights, and their concerns.
I deplore the way other white people are making this into a huge power play to force people to give up their freedom of speech. If they make laws forcing us to behave a certain way in the presence of a SYMBOL, then we will have lost a major chunk of our freedom. The very FIRST Amendment was first for a reason: without freedom of speech, we cannot be free.
This is an exceptionally good column, Mr. Blow. I am saving it.
8
I took a knee while I read this tragic history. Let's hope that this deep sign of respect and acknowledgment can now spread from the sidelines into the stands, and eventually into our legislative halls.
5
Given the history of African Americans in the US, I find it extraordinary that any African Americans at all would want to honour the flag or be "patriotic" in any way. The idea that the US is a good, decent country certainly has no substance when considered from the perspective of those people enslaved to service its economic development.
14
What about people of African descent who came to this country in the last 50 years, and their children?
2
There have been many who advocated for separate communities where African Americans could live free from the rest of the Country and it's discriminatory policies and practices but it's just not a practical solution, they lose when they are not able to participate equally.
1
No. It's WE, as a country who loses when we're all unable to participate equally.
4
I wrote a comment earlier stating something that many of those posting here seem to have forgotten -- And that is the fact that African-Americans are first and foremost AMERICANS.
Unlike most immigrants, they were brought here under the most dire of circumstances, and often unwilling, but they are every much a part of this country's history, as the whiite European forefathers who wrote them out of history.
Another thing.
Blacks have served in EVERY American war since this Nation's founding.
They have given their blood. And their lives.
So to make them out as being less patriotic, is nothing more than an abomination of the truth.
If more Americans were more keenly aware of this country's past, what's happening now wouldn't be so surprising to them.
And until they get to that point, and come to terms with the civil and social unjustices of both the past and present, it won't only be athletes who are down on one knee, but the entire country.
22
The failure of the larger society to recognize these facts has been reported in documentaries and some discussions but it never seems to become common knowledge for some reason.
1
Yes. And we already know what that reason is.
2
@N.SMITH:Rather than write about history of oppression of African Americans that we are already aware of, why not make a "beau geste" and adopt a needy African family, sponsor visas for them, and help them start a new life in this land of abundance, compared to hopeless future that they would face if they remained in their country of origin.Match your actions to your words.Sponsored my "cuisiniere" from Ghana when I was a university lecturer in Dansoman, and she is having the time of her life here "aux Etats Unis" with our son Alister Hall. There r plenty of others like me, who believe, in all modesty, in performing concrete acts of altruism as opposed to simply showing off by writing about social injustices done to African Americans. Worked 4 years in west Africa, plus lived in Algeria and Rhodesia, and not once was queried about slave trades(s)or divestiture. Africans are pragmatic, and live for the present and the future. First day teaching in Lycee JFK in Coloban, as a FULBRIGHT, students asked me about a visa for the states.What I suggest is that all of you, second person plural, show offs,writing so compassionately about social and racial injustices, do something concrete to prove that your hearts r in the right place. Anyone can submit a comment to Times newspaper about inequities. Mr. Blow, in his eloquent manner, does it all the time. Challenge is to go beyond mere words to actions that specifically help others, which most folks r reluctant to do!
I rarely watch sports of any kind. Sorry! Not much of a fan for anything but Olympic competitions. But I read the news. I read about police violence and racial inequality, and I've never felt even a little uncomfortable when reading about players kneeling in protest for the horrid injustices suffered by our citizens. It is a very simple, humble, and powerful way for our high profile athletes to shine a bright light on racial inequality and police violence in the United States. Thank you, athletes, for your solemn acknowledgment of these serious injustices in our society. Keep kneeling and speaking out for as long as it takes.
13
I wish I could share your columns with the people I know who should read and understand them. Alas even if I could share I doubt they would read. To them ignorance is bliss. though as an old white guy I could never truly understand, am with you!
8
DaveM asked in a comment below, "Where are the examples of institutional, systemic racism today?"
Dave, if you don't see examples of institutional racism all around you, you must not be paying attention. Let's start with Joe Arpaio, Rudy Giulani, and systematic racial profiling. Today's column points out the difference in incarceration rates. Look also at inequalities of access to education (perpetuated by the constant attempts to tear Affirmative Action apart) and more to the point, inequalities of outcomes. Look at the thoroughly documented practice of racial discrimination in housing, highlighted in the '70s by our president and his father and still happening today. Remember that Jeff Sessions was denied a federal judgeship because of past racist remarks yet went on to have a long senatorial career before becoming the country's top law enforcement officer. Remember Charlottesville? And you really don't see institutionalized racism?
There are just a few examples, to scratch the surface.
Dave, the point is that America ~isn't~ recognizing its sins. That's exactly why Kaepernick and the other athletes took a knee. That's why Black Lives Matter exists. That's why it's imperative that we, all of us of every shade of white and black and brown, call out racism and bigotry when they occur. Agreed, America is not perfect. We honor it not by glorying in its triumphs but by identifying and remedying its imperfections.
19
I just do not understand why a peaceful protest by our athletes bring out the worst in some people! Why is genuflecting disrespectful? Famous people have a unique opportunity to focus a light on injustice & many other wrongs in our society. They should grab it with both hands. Why is it unpatriotic to want to make your country better, more inclusive, with Justice and opportunity for all? No country or political system is perfect - they're run by human beings after all, but in order to change things for the better, the things that are wrong have to be acknowledged before they can be addressed. Doing this does not make One unpatriotic. In fact, it's the opposite. How can you right a wrong if you don't recognize you have a problem. However, that runs both ways. I never thought I'd agree with Pres. Trump but he's right: if you don't like what you see on the field, courts, or ice (raceways), you have the right to turn off yout TV or to not buy tickets.
3
I admire the courage of those players willing to take a stand. However, fairly or not, the flag and the anthem represent different things to different people. I wonder if the protests would be more effective, and less divisive, if they protested before the game, had separate press events, or wore armbands of some kind. From what I understand, many veterans feel offended because they chose to do it during the Star Spangled Banner, and I am the last person who feels I should lecture anyone who has risked their life or been wounded as to why it is ok to kneel.
2
I talked to a lot of vets & they are not offended. They understand this peaceful protest has nothing to do with them & the grateful pride we all feel for their service. Just so you know, NFL rule book has nothing to say about the flag or anthem but team members are not allowed to attach anything to or wear anything on their uniforms. Google or Snopes for some interesting info.
5
I've long thought that there is no greater patriot than a black man denied the right to sit at a lunch counter fighting, and dying, for his country. There are patriots aplenty, enough "blood" to go around. My family has been in every conflict since the French and Indian War. My umpteenth grandfather helped write the Plymouth Compact. The flag is drenched, as you say, in our blood. That doesn't give me a special dispensation to disrespect it, thereby giving calculated offense, and I am offended when someone else does. None of us formed this country, for good and ill. Generations have tried to perfect it. We've righted wrongs, here and abroad, and spilled blood to do it. We've built skyscrapers and an economy that's the envy of the world. In World War II we were the only safe place on the planet (which needs our protection and attention). We've tried to right unspeakable racial wrongs. We've spent trillions on social programs. We are an imperfect experiment in self-governing. Geo. Washington left little remarked instructions: We've done our best, he said, if it doesn't work, fix it. We are a family. I dare say that fixing things means getting past resentment and divisiveness, not stoking both by stereotyping whites as "oppressors" and listing our supposedly clueless "microaggressions" (these go two ways). The national conversation on race isn't a conversation at all --it's a lecture. To move ahead, each side, not one, must be made "uncomfortable."
5
I have never been to a sporting event where the anthem and the flag weren't dishonored. Look around, people with their baseball hats on, hands in their pockets or around a cup of beer, talking to each other, adding different words to the anthem etc etc etc. It happens daily!
12
The situation today is an intersection of race and class. It would sound strange to most whites to say that a lower-income white has higher status in America than an upper-income black, but it would sound just as strange to blacks to say that within a socioeconomic class, blacks and whites are of equal status.
3
Blow could start connecting our racial problems with our distorted economy. A big factor is our political culture supporting corporate wealth and privilege, while the rich invest in our election campaigns to increase their power.
This has been weakening the middle/working classes, of all races. Trump/Gop widen the gulf, enflaming racial resentments, displacing blame. Some whites claim bias due to affirmative action, while their own insecurity worsens.
All working people need Affirmative Action by their elected govt to restore what was once a strong US middle/working class.
Today’s economic downward mobility is a situation ripe for racist exploitation. Just what we got, with Trump. Enough to fill years of columns by outraged Charles Blow.
But when will Blow and others go beyond the obvious racial injustice and start critiquing our economic inequality? This is worse than many other democracies, per OECD comparisons.
Our politics is ruled by big money special interests who invest in the campaigns of both parties for financial advantage. Our laws cater to the 1 %, and ignore the wishes and needs of the 99%. With our racial segregation by neighborhood, and the removal of millions of jobs to oursourcing in Asia, how could racial polarization not be worsened? Enter Trump---inevitable. Racial problems are worsened by general economic inequality, which is related to how we finance our election campaigns. Mr. Blow could try to deal with this.
4
I have, almost from childhood onward, had a dedication, both active and intellectual, to full equality. I have studied closely the record of murder, lynchings, slavery and the long history of suppression of black people and the continuing lack of fairness, justice, is the so called criminal justice system. Freedom in the fullest sense is the greatest causes in my life, yet I think the reciting of the injustices (a mild term) done to black people is not the place to start, or end, this discussion.
First off, we don't have a loyalty oath in America. We don't have a test for what it means to be a patriot, nor do we force people to conform to one manner of expression or respect. The flag is not a religious symbol. We don't require civilians to salute it.
Using the anthem as a kind of test or reminder of patriotism began only in the 1940s, particularly after WWII when people like senator Joe McCarthy were roaming the land searching for communists under every pumpkin. He and the far right were terrorizing the nation with communist witch hunts and standing at attention during the anthem became a kind of public demonstration of patriotism, not unlike what would be required in N. Korea or Russia of fearful citizens.
We don't need to rededicate ourselves to flag and country every time we go to a game. We are no less Americans or patriotic before or afterward. The football players have earned the right, as full, respected citizens, to show their concerns. We should all join them.
12
I have simply two questions....Where and When? For that sizable group of people who believe that kneeling during the National Anthem is inappropriate, some claiming that it is ''neither the place nor the time''....PLEASE enlighten us as to ...WHERE?....and WHEN? And HOW? Protest is messy.
14
Great question. The answer is: never. Never when they don't approve and they would never find a time and place. It is never "convenient". We say we tolerate dissent in our country, but in point of fact, people get arrested and gassed when trying to "peacefully assemble for the redress of grievances" for any petty law that can be trotted out to declare the assembly illegal. We talk dissent, then we repress it with police action and call the whole gathering "violent".
A sportscaster in Dallas, of all places, and a Vietnam vet answered some of your questions in an on-air commentary recently. Worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNJUsE7pEs4
6
Thanks you sir, for the link. I watched it and it is good.
Keep telling the truth Charles Blow! It must precede any sliver of a hope of reconciliation, yet most Americans of all races run from it like the plague. The truth can set you free, but first it will make you angry. The struggle continues, always.
9
Mr. Blow- I generally agree with your columns and certainly agree with this one and appreciate your perspective. I will not give up and will continue to support rational, more sensible candidates for office (including the Democratic Senate candidate in Alabama) but it is profoundly saddening to listen to our current president on these issues-there is no depth or subtlety in what he says and does nor is there any understanding of policy or programs.
4
If one wants to respect our flag, one should read and learn the real history of this country, and understand why the Constitution and its Amendments are comprised of the rules it asserts.
There is a reason that discrimination and institutional inequality must be addressed by law. And I can think of no time or place when Americans should be restricted from peaceful political protest. And frankly, the more "inconvenient" and "uncomfortable" the venue, the better.
NFL players demonstrating in the place where they work, at the moment of greatest attention, is in fact the most appropriate time and place for their actions. And nothing is more patriotic than do remind everyone of how our reality does not live up to our ideals.
Americans have always had to fight for and defend our rights, our privileges. The NFL players are only continuing that tradition. They deserve our respect.
9
"NFL players demonstrating in the place where they work, at the moment of greatest attention, is in fact the most appropriate time and place for their actions."
It is not appropriate, it is against NFL rules. This particular rule has fines and suspensions as the proper punishment. The players are free to kneel if they want, but the NFL must follow its own rules and fine or suspend players who do. Breaking rules must have consequences.
1
The rules are made by the owners of the franchises, and since they have come out in support of the players "taking a knee" there is no violation even if such a rule were to actually exist ( Please cite this rule)
3
And it's up to NFL owners and commissioners to enforce those rules - or not. These are self-imposed rules, not laws with force. But speaking of actual laws, are you aware that Trump committed a Federal crime by exhorting NFL owners to fire their players? Are you going to be equally adamant that Trump's crimes be prosecuted?
2
Hawaii has many residents from red states because of the military presence. These soldiers and sailers work side by side with African Americans. And yet, most are staunch Trump supporters who see African Americans as ungrateful for what everything white America has done for them. Nothing will change their mind about this. They are raised believing this and it gets reinforced daily by Fox News, Breitbart and other nefarious "news" sites. These are "friendly and polite", patriotic millennials who can't ever conceive that their beliefs are viewed by African Americans differently. So often I hear from them, "I'm not racist I have many black friends in the military."
12
I want to add my outrage, my white outrage, to the discussion because I grew up in the south and witnessed racism. It turned me around to learn more of the history of slavery and the unfair treatment not only of slaves but black people when it came to the law, courts, housing, jobs, and education. There was never a time when it was fair or equitable for them without protest and change.
Protests are a right we all have. There are no laws being broken and these honorable NFL players are expressing outrage in a very quiet and private way. This is not about an anthem or a flag. This is sorrow and pain about the treatment of black people who die in our streets just by being there doing nothing. They do more good than Trump in all his history.
Tell me what white mother has to have 'the talk' with her white son.
Trump is an old white man with racist attitudes. That he would invoke this baloney about the flag and disrespecting those who died in wars or fought is the height of hypocrisy even for him.
What Trump family member has ever served. What policies have been enacted by Trump that favor veterans.
Once again his supporters have been conned by a man who never wore the uniform, used 5 deferments for a foot issue that athletes face all the time and uses his base to feel important but so far has done nothing for them.
We have enough problems, no need to invent more.
14
After you explain why ageism is so much more acceptable than racism, then please tell us exactly what laws on the books today, in 2017 legislate racial discrimination. And, by the way, neither Obama nor Clinton served in the military.
5
Neither did they make a big deal about false patriotism to wield as a weapon against people.
And in case you haven't noticed, the things that protect minorities are being taken away in the Trump administration and by the GOP with more phony crises like voter fraud, gerrymandering.
As a victim of ageism I am not sure what you mean. It is used by corporations to keep people from aging and needing pensions and medical care. Been going on since Reagan.
4
And neither Obama or Clinton was endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, either.
3
It boggles the mind that "white men" think they are the only patriots. Black American men have fought in every war since the Revolution and, I'm sure, have suffered as many if not more casualties as a percentage of the military population than white men because they were/are usually the "grunts". Not only that, but black people need to put up with white men, and perhaps women, hanging up confederate and nazi flags and holding meetings in their barracks. It's simply not acceptable.
It's very difficult to "admire" the military when they seem to be acting like a bunch of war-mongering haters. Those who do not agree with the model they are trying to employ had better stand up and demand that it stop. NOW is the time.
9
We always sees ourselves in part through the eyes of others, especially in a society predicted on democracy and equality. So even if you somehow managed to abolish racism (itself a reflex of democracy, a way of setting yourself apart, claiming superiority or victimhood--because nothing is so natural to a democratic setting as the master-slave complex) you would still not have even slightly altered this fact. There are of course real issues of injustice and racism. Be careful, though, that you do not use an inherent aspect of the human condition morbidly accentuated by equality to conjure up a fantasy of bad faith, that it is all just due to "racism" or social injustice, and that if these would cease, you would instantly become one with yourself.
1
The anthem asks a question:
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
This protest is our answer. It waves over a land that is freer for some than others and home of people brave enough to shine a light on that disparity.
The players are not turning their backs on the flag, they aren't walking off the field, they aren't booing during the anthem, like their detractors. They are kneeling, silently. Without the music, it looks like prayer.
They are Titans and history will remember them bending the arc of the universe toward justice.
5
Why is paying a bunch of people 1000 times the national average wage just because they are physically enormous and therefore good at demolishing less gigantic players on the football field "justice"?
7
It has nothing to do with justice, They get paid 1000X the national average because they have a developed a skill that people want and that few people can develop to the same proficiency
2
Colin Kaepernick isn’t getting paid diddly squat right now because he’s fighting for justice. Those who kneel with him, big and small, are doing the same.
2
Given the woeful history of savagery recounted here, the contemporary American power structure should thank its lucky stars that the protesting athletes' means of expression is, so far, confined to peaceful kneeling.
9
You didn't mention the destruction of black business districts by highway construction in cities all over the country.
4
Astonishing.
Amazing writing.
3
"Get over it!"
--The hysterical cry by those too afraid to face the painful past.
5
You just admitted that this is all about the past, not the present. In the present day, there are NO laws on the books anywhere in the US that specifically discriminate against or harm African Americans. These football players, like Mr. Blow, make many, many times the wage of the average US worker, white or black. So what are they whining about?
3
I said people who say "get over it," referring to the past, are afraid to face it.
There are no laws on the books which specifically target African Americans, and yet they are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and the judicial system.
Money doesn't protect black people from the police. Your family might be able to hire a great lawyer, but you're still shot dead.
Nor does having money mean you aren't free to protest inequality. Or the treatment of those in poverty.
Trump is crazy rich. Richer than any football player.
So what is he always whining about?
3
oh no? on a Federal level laws were just changed to put use and sale of powdered cocaine and crack cocaine on par - previously, crack cocaine, used disproportionally by minorities was punished much more severely than powdered cocaine which is more prevalent among whites. These disparities still exist on the books of many state statutes. Further, it should be noted that when heroin ravages minority communities the response is primarily through the criminal justice system. Now that whites are affected, the whole mind set is changing and it's being thought of as a sickness to be addressed as a national health crisis
3
Only the conservative Republicans wave old glory in my neighborhood. I love and respect our flag and all the virtues she represents but these dear old patriots believe they are closer to God because George Washington was a white man. When engaged, their prejudice towards Jews, African Americans, Hispanics and non whites is revealed through a perspective of white American entitlement. My single voice cannot change their beliefs but I can get down on my knee and pray for change and compassion with all true Americans.
5
Instead of hating your neighbors, why not get to know them?
3
It appears once again Trump and Putin are on the same page using twitter to stir up race relations and damage our democracy's image around the world a goal Trump and Putin seem to share. What is Trump's payoff in this scam leaving Ivanka billions of $ once he gets those oil sanctions lifted and delivers Ukraine to Russia as his longtime trusted personal attorney was working on Mueller may shed light on this. The establishment GOP is in the cross hairs of Bannon and Trump perhaps for survival they best get rid of Trump asap but do they have the courage to act or is the fear of a nasty name on twitter terrify them into cowering in awe of that bombastic buffoon.
3
You are right to say this is nothing new.
Remember 1968 Olympics Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists as the American flag got hauled up while they stood on the winners' platform?They were protesting the repression of Blacks in America, and the Olympic committee was aghast because they had "politicized" this pristine moment--a moment of ultimate jingoism, you understand, with the American flag rising and the anthem playing and they were supposed to be oh so proud to be Americans and they were saying instead, actually, not so much, when you consider how America treats us now and has always treated us.
"The flag" is always trotted out as the unsullied symbol of what we love about America.
What malarkey.
One thing you can say for African Americans when they protest--they really do it effectively. Which is why they are so reviled by the smug, fat and happy pink puffy guys, like our President.
9
I salute you Mr. Blow. Bravo!
2
Charles, thank you for your column. I also wonder about the last part and aftermath of the Civil War, when food was very scarce in the south and slaves began to be seen as a liability. What was the death rate among them in the chaos that pervaded the region then?
1
I can't figure out why every person in the stands doesn't "take a knee."
I guess its either ignorance or cowardice.
Those men men who do take a knee have my admiration and brotherhood.
8
Donald Trump's alleged reverence for the flag is a piety reflected only in words, not deeds. If he had not avoided service in Viet Nam as a young man, his claim for flag reverence could have had a ring of authenticity at this time in history. Also, full support of the Russia investigation now would have gone a long way in manifesting an authentic veneration for the flag and all that flag represents.
All the current protest by Trump about kneeling rather than standing for the National Anthem is nothing more than--to use one of his favorite words--"fake" piety, piety of the same quality that Dr. Martin Luther King referenced as "pious irrelevancy and sanctimonious triviality" in his Letter from Birmingham City Jail.
3
It is so sad that still today Mr. Blow must write a brilliant piece like this. A wise man said: "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
I really do hope that people will learn from history - the alternative is too horrible to imagine.
1
It was under the US flag that slavery was ended in the United States -- a social practice that long preceded the existence of the United States and one that was practiced by all cultures including Africans who supplied the slaves for the transatlantic slave trade
Hopefully 200 years from now all of us wont be judged as immoral monsters for killing animals for food or some other common practice today that will surely become an unacceptable evil sin circa 2250.
6
Mahatma Gandhi went through through a similar soul-searching during the Second World War. While India was being subjugated by the British, should Indians support the British war effort against the Nazis and Japanese? In the end he decided that Indians had to support the British. It is instructive to read his musings on this.
The black athletes who are protesting police brutality and social injustice are doing so in a peaceful, even reverent, way. When you consider that they are kneeling it is almost like a prayer. A prayer for understanding. A prayer for social change.
Yet 45 gets up on his hind legs and talks about respect for the flag and the national anthem. As a white person, never persecuted for the color of my skin, I wonder what form of protest IS acceptable.
At some point the oppressed may come to realize that armed rebellion is their only recourse. Then, heaven help us.
2
The flag is drenched in blood these days across racial and ethnic lines owing to the militarization of our nation. We are a nation of unending unnecessary wars in which we mechanically thank people "for their service" and nearly as mechanically talk about our "fallen heroes" and our "wounded warriors" even as they have been killed or maimed for nothing. We wrap all of this in the flag and our politicians find it necessary/useful to always wear a flag lapel pin while they brag about the United States being the greatest country in the world and our "exceptionalism." As a two tour Vietnam veteran who is fed up with the militarism, I have refused to fly the flag for years or engage in any flag-related rituals--and greatly admire what the athletes have been doing.
5
You said it, brother.
The military is a necessary evil, but we should be way more careful about how we as a people feel about war.
3
Thank you for your article. The flag is not only drenched in our blood - but also in the blood of many countries and communities across all the earth. The USA attacks any country it likes. Most brutal regime across all history.
1
Thank you for this brief overview of the sacrifices (and horror) of black people in America. I think more of this history needs to be remembered as it may lead to increased empathy and understanding of the historical context of much of the racial inequality that is so evident today.
In Canada, we have our own disgraceful history re: our treatment of Indigenous peoples. We recently went through at a Truth and Reconciliation process. Hearing the truth of our inhumane government sanctioned treatment of Indigenous children was difficult to hear (truth can be hard) and to this day many Canadians still do not want to accept what was done to the people and the generational consequences that resulted and live on today.
Although truth is hard, it is the reconciliation process that will be the challenge. Do Canadians really want to accept the historical facts and the traumatic past inflicted on the First nations peoples by the white settlers, churches and government? Do we really want to make restitution - right the wrongs that still plague our systems and communities?
America has a long history of racial inequality and social justice issues - are you ready to heal? Your trauma runs deep. Can you face the truth? Do you want to move forward? I sure hope so as the world is watching. They take heir cues from you. Are you still the beacon of light that you say you are or is this all an illusion?
3
The Flag is a Rorschach test. Definition lies in the eye of the beholder. I have witnessed crossing this country Americans who claim to deify the Flag, hanging Old Glory outside their homes, 24/7, rain or shine. They are clueless that by doing so they are desecrating the very thing they say they are so proud of.
I have also witnessed comrades in arms desecrate the flag of other countries. I look at them with disgust. They remind me of chicken hawks who sanction torture, numskulls like Cheney and Trump. They cavalierly advocate the use of waterboarding, while someone who actually was in the thick of "IT", John McCain, pointed out that what they are doing is telling those we fight that the juice which is good for the goose is not good for the gander. Chicken Hawks reek to the high heaven with hypocrisy.
As someone who served during Nam, though I believe that does not grant me any more privilege that any other American I think the right of each American to reach their own conclusion what the flag means. Salute it, ignore it, burn it, I could care less. One person might do all three at different times in their life depending on the circumstances. The flag is simply a symbol of a country, for good and ill. Sometimes we do the right thing, sometimes we commit horrific acts in its name. No flag can account for the action of our two centuries old history. That makes the US flag a paradox, a symbol to admired, a symbol to be ashamed.
DD
Manhattan
7
Sir: Having travelled the country of Ghana a few years back I was utterly appalled by the historical relics of the European slave trade extant today. No understanding of the slave trade would be complete without a visit to Cape Coast Castle, Elmina and Fort Metal Cross where yes indeed you will see the hot-branding irons used by the British. All are located on the Atlantic Coast of Ghana. The biggest and best preserved slave processing facility is Cape Coast Castle that is today a UNESCO designated world heritage site and museum originally founded by the Swedish and then Danes before being taken over by British. There, especially for African diaspora visitors, you will learn and hear the narrative of the slave trade from the African perspective, and there are many facts that are not so well publicized in western narratives. The capital city of Accra will be the major arrival airport.
1
Like the old expression: If they say it's not about the money, it's about the money.
1
I have fought for civil rights since I was a teenager, but there was so much I didn't understand. I realized, in my forties, that our black citizens are our founding families as much as our white ones are.I used to congratulate myself, that I had nothing to do with slavery or the oppression of our native Americans. My family was in Russia then, barely surviving our own oppression, Just a few months ago, now in my sixties, I've come to realize that the wealth of this great nation is based on the unpaid labor of millions of people for hundreds of years, and taking land and resources from our natives, and I have benefitted hugely from that.
As a Jew, I belong to a minority. As a woman, I belong to a majority. As a citizen, I am equal. I kneel for us.
1
Thank you, Charles, for this partial history lesson.
Here is an addition:
Since when is kneeling, the posture of prayer for many of us, considered disrespectful?
The first time I saw this gesture, I was reminded of what was once one of the most famous of the iconic images in American history. "Am I not a man and a brother?"
Here is a link from the Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g05321/
And here is the text of the poem which accompanied it from John Greenleaf Whittier, a American poet, Quaker, and abolitionist:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g05321/
The United States abolished slavery by fighting the bloodiest war in our history, in which, as you point out, black men were heavily engaged, as they have been since, although forced to serve in segregated units until 1948.
The United States finally began dismantling apartheid (South Africa copied our Southern Jim Crow laws) in the 1950s and 1960s. A look at any Census map since showing distribution of the white and black populations shows how unequal integration has been.
Integration has been successful is professional sports. Slightly more than two thirds (2/3) of players in the NFL are black. They still work for white men, many of whom are generous supporters of Trump. The white owners may express themselves, but not the black players according to Trump.
Are we not brothers and sisters? Or are some still more equal than others?
5
Patriotism has always been used by demagogues to get people to do their bidding. With Trump it is far more shallow. He needs constant emotional reinforcement from the people who actually fall for it.
2
A word of advice for all those who refuse to stand for our flag, especially all of those who knelt at the Jaguars vs. Ravens game in London last Sunday: if you ever are in a foreign country and get in to trouble, look for a building with an American flag hanging outside. Chances are it is an American embassy. In there, they will not care about your race, gender, income or really anything else other than you are an American. They will help you.
Throughout the world, the American flag represents freedom, liberty and justice. Hatred, racism, homophobia, etc., are traits common to all humanity; not American or what our flag stands for.
If we cannot agree on this, there is little hope we can agree on anything important.
4
A lot of commenters expect Trump to be something he is not, fair minded. I think its time to tell the the truth about our president. He is a raving bigot. And the same goes for most of his party. The time for pretense is over. If you are offended, too bad.
5
For those who keep repeating that the NFL or any other sporting event is not the place to protest please explain the difference between Breast Cancer awareness or any of the other myriad causes that use these sporting events to bring their to light. It is a legitimate platform to raise awareness and get action.
9
Did players disrespect the flag in opposition to breast cancer?
Can you really not understand the difference?
2
There are two important differences, Elizabeth.
One, is that raising breast cancer awareness does not involve disrespecting our flag and country. The pink ribbons painted on the field in October, or players wearing pink for the "Crucial Catch" breast cancer awareness program, were not an affront to anyone's patriotism.
Two, is that we can all generally accept the benefit of raising breast cancer awareness. However, the issue of police shootings is not so simple, and it is unclear what it is that we are supposed to be "aware" of. Aware of crime, or poverty, or drug trafficking in the inner city? Aware of grandstanding protest groups who incite violence against the very police who are trying to protect black communities in the inner city? Aware that shootings of blacks by the police is rare, high-profile hysterics to the contrary notwithstanding? Aware that well-to-do professional football players don't know what they are protesting, exactly? Seriously, what was that thing the Dallas Cowboys did before the anthem played in Phoenix supposed to mean? Do you know? Does anyone?
2
The original poster was addressing the argument that politics don't belong in football, not the argument that it disrespects the flag.
Can you really not understand the difference?
3
The author is correct with the title BUT misses the key information: while slavery is indeed the original sin of the nation of the USA it misses the human cost of the Civil War as our nation's payment in blood and treasure for the ending of that national shame (words fail me) of slavery.
The US Civil War by its end (as Fredrick Douglas foresaw) ended the institution of slavery in the USA. This fact is reinforced by three constitutional amendments. But, I digress.
The flag is indeed drenched in blood, largely Caucasian (white) blood in the case of the Civil War. Deaths of Americans in the US Civil War (true, it is adds those both men from the Union and Confederate armies) cost more lives (battle and service related) and caused more wounded Americans than ALL our nation's other wars combined: Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, World Wars 1 and 2 and the Wars on Terror.
This is a horrible toll of lives lost and wounds suffered. At what point is the blood ledger closed, I have this feeling that it can never be enough blood spilled to "make up" for slavery. It has been my observation that those wanting a grievance will find so way to justify their grievance despite facts which seem to eliminate the grievance in question.
9
The problem with that argument is that just as many white Americans died trying to preserve slavery as those who fought to destroy it.
4
And the problem with your argument is that it's just another attempt to normalize it.
Sorry. Not working.
3
Blow doesn't reference Baptiste (The Half That's Never Been Told) and how our entire system of capital formation is a result of slavery that became ever more brutal as it expanded south and west from Virginia and North Carolina in the 1800's. It would be so appropriate if we truly acknowledge that the basis of the U.S. economic powerhouse was built on the backs of African American slaves. We owe so much to African Americans and the players are right to insist on the second class citizenship many have to endure.
6
As a man with multiple deferments for stubbed toes and hiding from VD the hypocrite in chief has no business scolding anyone for their version of patriotism.
The same people who would force US all to kneel at the feet of their god lash out at folks who are kneeling and praying that this Nation finally give attention to the ideals it has espoused since its inception.
It should finally be clear that the kind of nation t rump and his republican party want is a nation of sheep who do the bidding of the monied classes without complaint or hesitation.
Think for yourself? Make your own decisions? That is not good for the Corporate States of America so it will not be tolerated.
Point 2: These men (and a few women I suspect) on the sidelines taking one knee in supplication are not desecrating the flag; they are not burning it, they are not dragging it through the mud, they are not turning their backs on it, they are certainly not using it for commercial or fake patriotic purposes, they are certainly not wrapping themselves in it for a photo op, like our supposed president does on various occasions.
Their actions coincide with the Star Spangled Banner, which in my opinion has to be the very worst national anthem ever conceived. The melody of an obscure British drinking song and a poem whose third verse calls out in very racist ways, the black soldiers fighting for Britain to attain their freedom.
We are indeed an exceptional people. Exceptionally stupid.
7
Disrespecting the American Flag is no way to gain the acceptance or sympathy of the American people for any cause . I am sure that the promoters of such activity understand this and are willing to create a rift with the common people and if necessary sacrifice the careers of some players or coaches for their ends. There are many ways in our Republic that issues can be debated. By the way , just what issue is being promoted with these demonstrations? Police brutality, historic slavery, Colin Kapernik, Donald Trump , or simply foisting more disruption into the vision of the American public.
9
We have no right to feel self-righteous about human-right violations in North Korea, Myamar, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, the list goes on, when our own history is a thin veneer of patriotism and sanctimoniousness over our own slavery, sexism, racism, and let us not forget, and somehow we always do so, the genocide of Native Americans. I was expelled from high school in 1970, my senior year, because I wouldn't stand for the national anthem at a Friday afternoon pep rally. And I was a white kid from rural Ohio. Almost fifty years later, we have the same arguments and the same unresolved bitterness over the symbolism of the flag. If our country had the guts to stand up and apologize to all those we have oppressed over the centuries, I might stand again before I die. But I simply don't see that happening any time soon.
5
For years I have used the playing of the anthem and saluting the flag as a time for reflection on what is good and what is bad about our country. By now, especially at sporting events, the announcer often makes some statement about honoring those who serve in the military, and over time, the ceremony has become to some as solely about the military. Sometimes by extension, the ceremony incorporates other branches of service (police and fire). "A sincere thanks to those who serve! Now let's get on with the show!"
I support and thank those who serve in those parts of our government, but as Charles so artfully states, our nation's present as well as its past is complex and far from purity. I see in the kneeling and the linking of arms a chance to take back the ceremony from a quick thanks (and a tacit agreement that nothing is wrong) to a time to salute that which unites us and promise to address that which divides us. I am grateful to the NFL players for helping bring the ceremony to something that at least has a chance to be meaningful.
7
I grew up in a small, rural southern midwestern town in the 50s where the flag was “revered,” but not “worshipped.” That would be idolatry!
Then Vietnam came along. Along with many milllions of my peers, the flag came to represent something else. The more we knew about our country and it’s past, including slavery and Jim Crow — thus the Civil Rights Movement — the flag became problematic. Sadly, it remains so for me. Still….
I propose we, those of us so affected and those of us who’d still like the flag to represent a genuinely unifying symbol -- that we once again embrace the flag, flag pins and all that. By twining it with the words of that anthem “This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land.” Maybe attach banners to our flags with those words and wearing pins with those words. What do you think my friend? Not as a leftie thing, but as a unifying thing.
Take the flag back from those whose sentiments are increasingly like those described by the late Sen. Huey Long of Louisiana (and he surely knew something about this): “If Fascism ever comes to America, it will come wrapped in the American Flag!” (approximate words). Let’s take it back right now by flooding this country in flags and pins that proclaim: Yes, This Land is Your Land….”
Now, who can we get to make those banners and pins?
1
Thank you, Mr Blow, for your impassioned essay. At some point each white person must accept the legacy that our ancestors were part and parcel of. As a white person today. I have to face the reality of shootings of innocent Black citizens by police officers who, more often than not, are not convicted of their crimes. Of course, anyone, including pro players have the right to protest during the playing of the of the national anthem. And without the threats and rage expressed by a leader who should know better, but doesn't. I wonder if he ever will? One thing for sure, the more he threatens and uses his Twitter account about all of this, the more attention is put on the solemn First Amendment right to Free Speech.
4
I think it should be mentioned here that the stronger tribes in Africa aided the slave traders by turning in the weaker tribes to them for slavery. It’s sorta like the stronger tribes being populated by Jason Riley types who had no compunction of also engaging in the slave trade for profit. They could have stood up against the traders, and united with the weaker tribes to drive them out, but that didn’t take place. If it wasn’t for those stronger tribes, there wouldn’t have been slavery here, methinks.
My point? There is absolutely no innocent person, black or white, in this.
5
"People upset with those who kneel seem to be more angry about black “disrespect” than black death."
This is the perfect response to all those who profess offense at these protests!
I am proud of Colin Kaepernick and those who are following his example. He sacrificed his career, others endanger it, all to remind us of the innocents who have lost their lives for the "crime" of being Black in America!
8
Consider whether this is better or worse:
Donald Trump is rallying this part of his base in this way:
1. To stem their alienation after his DACA immigration "deal" with Democratic minority leaders of Congress (Nancy & Chuck);
2. To create more white (pun intended) noise around the failure of ACA repeal; and
3. To keep Mueller and related news down the news feed.
2
And most white Americans do not even know this history. Or the similar bloody horror inflicted on native Americans. It is long past time for true reparations. But that would be met with the objection that such a program would be "divisive." Germany admits to its genocide, but the United States never will.
4
What is lost in this well-crafted argument, is me, and millions of other white people who agree with you and support taking a knee. That is another terrible shame. Are we the majority of white America? I don't know the answer to that. But I understand the duality of consciousness that is described, because I feel that way, too. I'm always conscious of feeling like I have to prove myself to others, that I am not one of those Americans who secretly and sometimes unconsciously harbor racist beliefs. That if asked to stand on one side or the other, I'd always choose yours. That while all of my ancestors were starving to death in Ireland during the slave trade, I still carry the guilt as if they had been slave-owners in America. I can't be African American, nor can I be part of the America that is racist, and it kind of leaves me out on an island somewhere, always happy to find a kindred soul. I am with you, and will always be with you in actions, heart and beliefs.
4
Well said. I come from Polish and Jewish immigrants myself, so I have no blood in the fight. And I grew up in a largely black rural area with a black family next door. I took care of their kids a lot of the time and was always surrounded by black culture.
But that doesn't mean I don't have those feelings of white guilt. I'm aware that my skin color and southern drawl might make some people assume certain things. I'm always conscious of not being too friendly with people of color to overcompensate to the point of condescension.
I also know how easy it is for me to say, well, "I'm not racist and my ancestors are recent immigrants, so I don't have to care about this problem. Race doesn't matter to me."
But the truth is I only have that option because I'm white. People of color don't have the option to ignore race.
4
Exactly Ben! I'm always afraid of the condescension issue too.
1
The United States has a great history of striving toward racial equality. Would it kill you to admit that, Charles? Can you think of a country that has done better? If you're going back to the well to lecture us about slavery in the 1800's, maybe at least mention that when Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem, the President of the United States was black. Black, Charles.
If we want to make our country better, we can argue about this or that, but at the end of the day, we need to understand that we are all Americans. And we demonstrate that at football games by standing for the Star Spangled Banner. After which, if you still think it's important to talk about slavery, feel free. (But I hope you're not sitting next to me.)
6
This is like telling an abused spouse that things are better now because her husband only beats her on Thursdays instead of every day.
3
I might suggest, if things are that bad, that it's time to get a divorce and move back home. Disclaimer: I am not a marriage counselor.
1
This is home. If there's a divorce, they get half.
2
I have yet to read or hear exactly how kneeling quietly translates to disrespect for the flag, the anthem, and the USA. What is the cite for the defining rule or law?
What gives the five-time draft dodger-in-chief the moral standing to call anyone unpatriotic? I am shocked that the media has not called out the hypocrisy here.
8
The irony of all of this is too much to stomach. This faux president who exhorted a foreign power to hack into the emails of another American while campaigning is babbling about patriotism? The guy who has yet to say a critical word about Putin is babbling about patriotism? Please. The sad danger is that the people who support him cannot or won't see his duplicity.
2
The great majority of "whites" have no history connecting them to the slave trade or slavery. And the slave trade was an alliance between African Kingdoms and European slave traders, who would often intermarry their families to solidify their slave trading alliances. Trump is right when he says that this is not about race. There are 2 reasons for it. First, there is only one human race. Second, most "blacks" are not blacks, but of mixed race, just as many "whites" are of mixed race. Paradoxically, the strict division of "blacks" and "whites" is something white supremacists love. White supremacist love the idea of "race", which implies they can't mix biologically. They are wrong and so is Charles M. Blow who keeps hitting the race button in every column reinforcing false stark divisions between "black" and "white" that don't reflect daily lives of our racially ever more mixed country. There is no black race or African race. There is only the human race.
3
Another insightful and helpful writing from Charles Blow.
Even so, whilst the NFL protests against police brutality and racism are valid and necessary, the form and venue is not. (irrespective of their Constitutional right). How do I know this? For the reason that these protests which are staged during the presentation of the colors and the anthem have divided us even more - obscuring the protest's message.
A protest which can be, rightly or wrongly, interpreted as disrespectful of the symbols held in the highest esteem by the VAST majority of Americans is going to be met with stiff resistance and the message coming from the NFL players will be lost and dismissed
Surely there are those NFL players that can devise a more unifying form of protest.
Do not bite on Trump's bait.
1
It's absolutely astonishing to me how many people want to define the issue as "disrespecting the flag" or "disrespecting veterans". Anything to avoid discussing the systemic racism and inequality which is actually the issue.
4
Mr. Blow,
All true and much work still needs to be done to remove the prejudice and bigotry that black people suffer. The question is, why politicize a sports event? Fans didn't pay to see pro players make a statement and many of those fans do believe that not standing for our National Anthem is a sign of disrespect. What is next of the protest list? Perhaps it is time to eliminate the National Anthem form all sporting events.
What continues to amaze me is the mind-blowing insensitivity of djt. To the Puerto Ricans assaulted by Hurricane Maria, he says, "You didn't take care of your infra-structure." Nothing like kicking a person when he is down. Comparable in every way to his comments on athletes who take the knee. When can we get rid of him?
3
Thank you for this painful reminder. You didn't mention the soldiers who died in our wars in the 20th century and continue to die now, patriots all. How dare anyone question the patriotism of these athletes???
2
It's not the symbolic kneeling and what not that citizens are objecting too, it's the narratives: Demonizing the entire police force, demonizing the military, demonizing "complicit" white culture - demonizing America. Many people are sick of these false and destructive narratives, and rightly, they will never embrace them.
7
I have always supported Colin Kaepernick in his efforts to bring police brutality to the attention of people. It is a shame that Trump has managed to direct the dialogue about Kaepernick's protest in a different direction by attempting to make it an issue of patriotism. I am not sure who said it, but it is often true that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.
1
Doubtless, Trump is absolutely ignorant of the history which Mr. Blow has recited. And if informed of that history, would Trump care? It is difficult to believe that he would.
3
Sadly, it's not only Mr. Trump -- but MOST Americans who are totally ignorant of this history, which is one of the reasons why we now find ourselves in the bind that we're in.
1
It is horrifyingly bizarre that a man who did everything possible to avoid serving in the Vietnam war - boasting and grotesquely joking about his "personal Vietnam" later on - should preach to an entire nation about honoring those who serve. You have to kinda ask yourself why such a destructive person as Donald Trump was spared - and maybe wish he hadn't been.
Not only is DJT vilely disrespectful toward African Americans, he is hypocritical to the point of insanity.
4
Did either Bill Clinton or even Al Gore serve in Vietnam? Did Obama serve in the military anywhere?
1
Al Gore served, yes.
Did either Clinton or Obama wrap themselves in the flag and use the military as an excuse to crush dissent?
3
Thank you Mr. Blow for putting the issue into both historical and present day context. Athletes (human beings and citizens with heart and conscience) have every right to use their platform to express their views.
Taking a knee is not turning one's back. Taking a kneee, to my mind, is act of courage, care and despair. I take a knee with you. The hatred, ignorance and utter disrespect for our country's values, institutions and diversity emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue must be challenged at every turn.
4
Horrendous is the only word that comes to mind when I think of what has happened to African-Americans in just the last few years, not just throughout history. Not only the police brutality but the constant questioning of their rights as American citizens and human beings. And now Trump has the nerve to call them unpatriotic because they knelt during the National Anthem? If anyone has shown us what an unpatriotic citizen is, it is Trump. His embrace of the Ku Klux Klan, the Alt-Right and Sessions shows us what a racist truly is. It is Trump and his allies. It is also the Republican Senators who allowed Sessions to be confirmed even though they new he was a racist and he lied about meeting with the Russians. And Sessions is considered a Patriot? He and Trump are a horrible example of Patriotism.
4
Exercising first amendment right of protest in a silent and non-violent manner is preferable to a noisy and violent manner. But America, "the best and the first in all things," just can't see the reality of the pain their orientation of laws inflict on others. That is what studies show: as long as their life isn't being hurt most of these Trump supporters don't care, and what they want is the image of obedience and order.
That's the thing that upsets them: those "others" aren't appreciative of everything they've been "given." Listen to Bully Trump and that's what comes from his mouth. He's angry at the "disrespect" shown for everything "the flag" gives. The man and his most ardent supporters are so narcissistic that they cannot see others as people entitled to the same speech privileges that they claim. This isn't about patriotism. This is about "shut up and take what we dish out."
2
If the country is so irredeemably bad why would so many millions from around the third world including Africa line up at US embassies everywhere trying to get in? If you read Heather McDonald you would see there are two sides to the crime statistics show
3
I hope they are "taking a knee" for Americans who are going to suffer under the GOP plan to "Repeal and Replace" Obamacare. You could be of any nationality, color, race, religion and you could find yourself in dire straights without health coverage because of circumstances out of your control, like job loss (Harvey), sickness, etc., etc. Already this 8 year attack on Obamacare has created havoc in the healthcare marketplace and a lot of Americans are feeling its negative effect already. This callus attitude toward "blacks" and black lives matters is a virulent sickness running through our society for anyone who isn't as wealthy or as white as they are.
If Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys) or Jimmy Haslam (Cleveland Browns) called their GOP Republican Senators and told them ... and told them to scrap the "Repeal and Replace" program, that would be the end of the charade.
And that goes for all the owners of the sport teams... Dan Gilbert of Cleveland Cavalers, Thomas Ricketts of Chicago Cubs.
1
I am not arguing against what Blow writes. It is worse than tragic, however let me ask a question:
Did the same number of blacks vote in the election as voted when Obama was the candidate (twice).
I know people will say I have a plantation mentality for questioning the vote by African Americans. And I am also aware of the voter restriction laws in some states.
African Americans are not restricted from voting in any state because they are black. If a few individuals are prevented from voting, it might be because they are either not citizens or are felons, but that could apply to any ethnic group.
1
Brilliant column. Charles Blow deserves a Pulitzer Prize for his continuing coverage of the Trump abomination.
And to those who question players actions as "disrespect for the flag"....who are you kidding?!
Disrespect for America's most cherished institutions has been coming from the grifter in chief and his family from day one of their tenure.
Lets end this charade now.
5
As always in articles like this one, the older examples of racism that are given are by far the more convincing ones. Slavery, segregation, lynching--all racism without a doubt. But the fact that black people comprise 35% of those put to death by the state, but only 13% of the total population? This only sounds like evidence of modern American racism, if you ignore the fact that black people commit approximately 50% of the murders in this country.
Mr. Blow, in the future please, please take into account the vastly disproportionate number of crimes committed by blacks, including violent crimes and crimes against members of other races. It is simply irresponsible to hurl accusations of anti-black racism in modern America without doing so.
7
I know you have only so much room, but I hope you cover how blacks were shut out of the post war economic expansion. My immigrant parents and grandparents attained middle class because their white skin opened doors. I grew up in Portland, Oregon where blacks were prohibited from living outside a red line district and where government policy allowed discrimination in hiring and housing.
2
The kneeling NFL Players demonstrate a love of country far more profound than Donald or his horrid athletic supporters could ever grasp.
Donald has no interest in defending the flag or respecting the National Anthem or honoring veterans. He only tweets about it because he knows it's a very useful wedge to further divide the country, dog whistle his racist fan base and throw focus off his gross incompetence.
2
Thank you Mr. Blow for your dilligence. You are needed.
However America is hopelessly lost in her racism. The election of Trump just solidified that for me.
We are Black Americans need to forgot forging alliances. We need to just depend on each other.
2
Someone should ask the President to name just one athlete taking the knee in protest who said anything about the flag, the anthem, patriotism or the military. Here's a clue....not one.
1
This is one of your most sobering columns Mr. Blow - absolutely gut-wrenching.
2
Yes, there is no doubt that trump is a very divisive president, the worst I have seen in 70 years of my life. He does it because his base loves it, those good old white boys, and trump just lives to hear the cheers and chants. I really believe as a private citizen trump could care less what color you are or where you come from however being president is just another show to him and he must get those ratings.
As for racial hostility, well at this point in time it seems to me everyone hates everyone because they believe they are working very hard while those "other" people are getting a free ride or a free pass. I have no idea how to fix this however I know Trump can not!!!!!
1
Why is ageism acceptable to you?
1
Best I've read yet. Thank you.
R. Luettgen, who submitted the following comment "Black football players kneeling during the playing of our national anthem to protest the status of blacks in our society doesn’t diminish America: the act validates America." got it exactly right.
Thank you to you both.
1
NFLers should take a knee every time they tackle a fellow player and contribute to lasting brain damage. (Maybe the league could institute an official clock stop for that too?). Then they should stand apart and withhold their assent when the paychecks are distributed, as a show of unity against the violent maiming of their fellow teammates (a majority of whom are African American) while enriching the power structure that owns the game.
2
Great column, but I shudder to think about the ignorant and self-serving rebuttals it will engender.
White people love to tell black people how to feel about slavery, segregation, and systemic racism in this country.
2
For years I have watched sporting events in person and on TV and you see, when the National Anthem is played, many of the whites in the audience texting on their phone, talking and laughing, not removing their hat and in general being very disrespectful. No one seems to be outraged about this type of behavior. Now we have the draft dodging Donald acting like this is a National crisis and playing to his base of white supremacist. The media continues to play right into Trump's hand. Just look at the person the Republicans in Alabama have selected to run for the U S Senate. If those NFL players had been white, texting on their phone and eating a hot dog while the National Anthem was played, no one would have thought a thing about it. Trump and his gang have no respect for the poor, disabled, the elderly, transgendered, women and minorities. Trump and his followers are a bunch of hypocrites and all the articles in the world about this is not going to change their opinions.
4
So why did two teams stand for "God Save the Queen", the soundtrack of the second largest slave trader, next to the Portuguese? Perhaps it's an irrelevant point in the context of Blacks treatment in the US, but the scene of kneeling for the National Anthem and standing for the greatest colonizer and the one who brought their ancestors by force to the current east coast is ridiculous.
5
Mr. Blow.... I believe this is the most powerful column I have yet read from you. Thank you.
2
Thank-you Charles Blow. I look forward to your column every week.
1
i will bet and guarantee that trump has never read a single book or article that relates to your points. the most ignorant, pathetic person who ever held the office. no historical perspective.
he must be removed from office. he has already done so much harm. and let's add alabama's republican candidate for senator - moore - who he now supports along w other republicans. an embarrassment to everything our country stands for. an all out effort must be put forth to defeat him before he further pollutes the cesspool of republicans in our govt.
1
At 80, White...Finnish, Irish, English, Scotch, and French, a Lutheran Pastor. I will quietly sit and listen to the wisdom, while frustrated, living
under Sociopathic national Leadership. As a 50 year Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist I have used the unrequested "diagnosis" of our "President".....Sociopathic Personality Disorder. Thank You, Mr. Blow, for the constant barrage in these crucial months. Now I withdraw to Listen.
2
As a white expatriate American who left the United States for political and cultural reasons at my retirement 17 years ago, I can't begin to imagine how black Americans feel today about their heritage in America.
If my ancestors had been treated with the original sin of slavery, my first move at this realization as a child would be to plot my escape to another culture that had more respect for humanity.
Among all the black Americans I've known, grown up with, and worked with, I could never bring myself to ask the obvious question when race relations came up in the conversation: how can you stand to live one more moment in a cultural environment that still looks at your race with disdain and that would even elect a white supremacist president?
3
Painful truths. Code words and dog whistles are this administration's modus oprandi. Was just lamenting this morning that most of my friends are in the #45 camp on this issue, while I am squarely on the side of those who protest on a knee, not out of disrespect for the flag, our soldiers, our police or all others who fight for and protect this land, but out of pain. Commercial sports teams have taken the place of religion as the proverbial "opiate of the masses" these days and those in power love the huge distraction that such provides. To the NFL fandom, there is little difference between NFL Team players and gladiators in the Colloseum, though am sure they don't think of it in those terms), there to fight for the pleasure of the Caesar and themseves, today's Joe and Jane fan. Don't mess with their illusion of God, Country, the American flag, apple pie etc. . Don't splash their faces with the cold water of the reality of the disgraceful hatred that goes on in this country, day in and day out, not just for blacks but also for others. They don't want those kneeling players to rain on their tailgating and home parties parade. Let the gladiators get concussed for their savage amusement. How dare they express themselves? #45 fanning the flames with his feigned indignant righteousness, all fake, just like him. And while Puerto Ricans die on that island in a "very big ocean", these Joe and Jane fans are planning a "protest" on November 11th. Disgusting indeed.
2
Your piece already more eloquently expresses my thoughts than I ever could. So let me just throw out a quick thought as a rabid white football fan with few black friends:
The fact we're talking about a league with a 3/4s of the audience white and 3/4s of the players black trying to claim players kneeling in protest is disrespecting anything is absurd. Black men and women in this country serve proudly and valiantly in a higher proportion than do white Americans. Our soldiers (whether black or any color or creed) fight for our FREEDOM. The first amendment of our constitution is the right to free speech.
Athletes should stick to sports and not express their political views when other people of color are being systematically abused yet again (as though the abuse ever stopped) is the wrong thing to do? So is the most powerful man in the world spending his time insulting players who are heroes to their communities, inspirations to millions of underprivileged children, and (as mention by Mr. Blow in regards to Kap) spending their own paychecks on chairty.
Why don't you stick to binge watching fox news instead of telling us NFL fans what we should or shouldn't do in regards to football players' actions, Mr. President?
3
you are running around with a ball and playing a kids game and making millions of dollars. your employers, the people sitting in the stand sthat make 30k a year driving a truck or some other normal job do not have a lot of sympathy that you feel oppressed. They paid 200 for the ticket, 150 for the jersey, 20 to park, 8 dollars for the hot dog etc. I am sorry for the way africans were treated in 1525 or for lynchings, etc.. but that was a long time ago. For decades your people have had flim flam artists as so called leaders that consistently fail do concrete things that would help your people and this ridiculousness is a great example, what will taking a knee do to help kids in terrible inner city schools etc. By making millions of dollars playing a kids game you reap the bounty of living in the USA and for that you should be extremely thankful as I am to live here. Try taking that act to some poor countries around the world and see if you can become a millionaire by throwing a ball, I guarantee that you can't.
2
In his column Mr. Blow perpetuates a fallacy that has infected a lot of peoples' thinking about police shootings of black people. He writes; "... there have been 730 police shootings so far this year... But here again there is a racial imbalance: black people represent nearly a quarter of those shot but only about an eighth of the general population.."
There is a missing, critical piece of data in the above; namely, what percentage of the population that is are arrested are black? If the answer is 1/4 or above, then the data supports an argument that blacks are LESS likely to be shot by a police officer after being arrested than non-blacks. This logical flaw is commonly overlooked by the New York Times and other liberal media. This is shocking. As Jason Riley, a black columnist, wrote in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the notion that there is a societal problem of widespread, disproportionate police shootings of blacks in the US is untrue but it is perpetuated by the liberal media in support of a race-based, identity-based, political agenda.
7
The NFL And players are using racial hostility to protest against our National Anthem, our flag and our country!
I hope fans will stay home and let them kneel in an empty stadium!
America First!
2
And that's exactly why I left the countryside outside of Greensboro and never went back.
4
Harry Edwards, architect of the 1968 Olympic Project for Human Rights, author of “The Revolt of the Black Athlete," and advisor to Colin Kaepernick, writes, “For the black man in America, the national anthem has not progressed far beyond what it was before Francis Scott Key put his words to it—an old English drinking song. For in America, a black man would have to be either drunk, insane, or both, not to recognize the hollowness in the anthem’s phrases.”
How ironic that Demagogue 45 would raise the issue of disrespect for the flag and the national anthem to the very descendants of those who first disrespected it by waging the bloodiest war ever on the North American continent in an attempt to overthrow the government in order to keep an entire race of people enslaved and to fly a different flag, the one with the “X” and stars, not the "Stars and Stripes."
“…these people who endlessly boasting of their freedom—we’re the best because we are free!—loathe the very suggestion of such a possibility for anyone other than themselves. They are forever stitching flags, making and threatening and dropping bombs, creating instruments of torture and torture chambers and overseers and deputies and detention centers. Their notion of freedom is so strenuously callisthenic, not to say defensive, that freedom becomes a matter of keeping everybody else out of your backyard….Whatever it is that white Americans want, it is not freedom—neither for themselves nor for others.” James Baldwin
4
May
Our
Response
Oppose #45's
"Nationalism"
1
Charles, Guilty as Charged! Now what? National football games are a time for us to come together as one people to honor our common bonds and love for this country despite its flaws. Jews will never forget, for example, FDR’s failure during WW II to bomb the railways or the 900 souls turned away on the MS St. Louis. There used to be that one beautiful moment though where we all could bond as one during the national anthem and believe in our better selves. That is why we boo the NFL.
2
I am not the first to point out that "kneeling" is not inherently disrespectful. Colin K. did what he thought was appropriate but kneeling is actually more reverential, not less. All this discussion about kneeling has become dumb. Too bad Colin K. didn't choose to raise a fist or turn his back to the flag. I think his kneeling during the anthem muddied the issue.
What is more sinister is the minstrel attitude that black athletes should be entertaining not discomfiting.
3
Mr. Blow's open disdain for America has deep roots and will never end. It will be used to justify any act, no matter how divisive and disrespectful. The fact is that police officers, white and black, are far more likely to be murdered by young black males than black males are likely to be murdered by police officers. Likewise, young black males are far more likely to be murdered by other young black males than by police officers. Time and energy would better be spent dealing with those problems than with denigrating the country.
9
I am not black but I believe black people upon reflection of their identity have little to be proud of. That's what fuels their collective anger. They see failure. Presently, a disproportionate are successful. The past they look at their ancestors as chumps that they allowed slavery to persist and even more egregious participate in it.
I believe their anger is misplaced. America fought a war, thousands of whites died, no other country can claim that. America is not the enemy.
instead of preaching racism and injustice because that sells newspapers, you should be advocating education, family as opposed to idolizing the rap culture and the criminal element which is prevalent in the black society today. #notall
4
You can burn the flag: protected as symbolic speech; per the United States Supreme Court.
However, the National Football League has a rule that all players must be on the sideline during the national anthem.
If you are taking the white man's money, then you may be punished in your employment. I do not see any protection for employees who defy their bossman on standing for the anthem.
Attorney, CPA
1
Reading some of the comments herein, reinforces what Friedman wrote about yesterday, the climatic change of which we are in the throes.
We are going through a political metamorphosis of democracy as we understood it, where its definitions are molded into a zero sum game.
A change where one loud person can twist a freedom [of speech for example] that ushered a gain to himself into a loss for those that exercise it.
Where one unfit person can erase the contributions of immigrants, an entire generation, and cast them as criminals and the source of our economic decline with just the scribble of an ink pen.
Where an entire political party can manipulate zip codes so much so that entire regions of our USA become voting deserts, disenfranchising thousands from democratic participation.
Where an entire political party gives-up on democracy itself for the sole purpose of holding onto power.
Now, in these comments, we have people telling other people that if you choose to use that very guaranteed right to stand-up for those rights, then you must be unpatriotic. Go home!
This is the very trash talk that reinforces Us and Them, Us versus Them beliefs. Essentially, you are colluding with the undemocratic forces that are attempting to roll back YOUR freedoms as you spout-off and foolishly support your own destruction. It's a tyranny of the ignorant.
Wow, it only took 24 months for this evolution to show its ugliest face.
3
We Americans like the stand high and mighty, lecturing Europe on their sins of the holocaust, yet we try to turn a blind eye to our own genocides. You can still love your country and openly critique its sins and faults. That is true democracy
1
Are you aware that there are unchallenged genocides going on today in Africa and Asia? The US is NOT the worst country in the world, and those who believe it is should leave and find a country that suits them better.
1
So, the rest of us can't be patriotic because it offends 12% of the population. Talk about your "Tyranny of the Minority."
4
We must never let Trump, a racist pure and simple, run the narrative. He was so happy with himself for his plantation owner definition of patriotism ala 2017.
He is so disgusting in his hatred for Obama in particular and all 'others' that he sees as somehow unworthy. We must resist every day his manipulative lies and his stoking of division and hatred. That Jeff Sessions is putting this hatred into new laws is unconscionable. Donate to the ACLU or similar efforts please!
2
All we need to know is that the Trumps did not rent their apartments to African Americans and were cited for discrimination. Is it any surprise that he espouses anti-black attitudes and spouts venom?
2
"Yes, Donald Trump has once again used racial hostility to rouse his base and is reveling in the achievement."
Hmm. I wonder. Who else uses racial hostility, say every Monday and Thursday, to rouse his base?
3
Charles Blow promotes the Black Lives Matter fiction that blacks make up a disproportionate number of those killed by police. He points out that blacks, who make up 13.3 percent of the population, make up nearly 25% of those shot and killed by police. But this is not the relevant demographic. The relevant statistic is the proportionality of police shootings to the number of arrests. Data Table 21 (Arrest by Race and Ethnicity) of the UCR shows that blacks, who make up about 13.3% of the U.S. population, made up 26.9% of persons arrested. Data Table 21 also shows that blacks made up 37.5% of those arrested for violent crimes, including 52.6% of murders and 54.5 percent of robberies—the types of crimes that often leads to police shooting.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-p...
10
Don't present statistical facts to democrats...they won't actually read them, and if they did they wouldn't believe them...
1
Raised fists, kneeling hulks. So? Evince all the set-piece drama a collection of semi-literate narcissists can muster - they have every right. And we the public have every right to criticize, ostracize, boycott, name-call, tune out and yes, demand whatever crosses our minds of team owners, broadcasters and sponsors. That's how it works, no? In the end, hundreds of semi-employable, steroid-fueled know-nothings will join the ranks of the incarcerated, and the corrupt university pipelines fostering rape culture and inner-city ignorance will be drained. Mission accomplished. Rah-Rah!
3
I wish Americans worshipped/rewarded intellectual and spiritual achievement as much as they do physical attributes.
1
I knew 'it' was extremely bad, but to see 'it' laid out so concisely and with this level of detail, and over such a span of time is mind blowing.
Trump is a racist (birtherism, Bannon, Charlottesville, Arpiao, etc). His supporters not only know this, this is why they voted for him. Trump also is no patriot as he failed to answer the call of this nation, he is a draft dodger. He has forever forfeited his right to comment on the patriotism or lack of respect for the anthem of any other individual.
Given this history, and this current president, and the current state of affairs, the type of protest (kneeling through the anthem) which is enshrined in the Constitution is quite understandable, quite justifiable, and quite innocuous if you ask me. The lyrics to the anthem are kind of idiotic, and this fact alone justifies a protest, but I digress.
The salient fact remains: THIS IS ALL ABOUT RACE.
5
Maybe "Leader of the racist Caucasians in the World" is more apt than "Leader of the Free World". I don't think the Flag and "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" conjure up notions of egalitarianism and altruism. Rockets, bombs, and institutional violence are in our blood, while the isms are our mascara and lipstick.
1
I think we ought to take a step back and look at our hypocrite in chief. It was he who insulted a gold star family and ridiculed a hero POW. It was he who claimed there were good people among the Nazi and White supremacists who were behaving violently. But a peaceful protest brought his language to profanity. I am a white Korean War Marine vet and I would gladly kneel with then if they promised to help me get back up on my feet.
8
I'd like to #takeaknee to show support for the athletes protesting racial injustice. I'm not a football fan; I don't particularly like football culture; the domestic abuse issues; college athletics and recruitment, etc. I have on my shelf my uncle's war medals (he died in WWII, right out of college, long before I was born). I would hold them aloft so others could see: a sacrifice for country doesn't mean blindness toward injustice. Keep writing, CB. Every bit helps.
4
Trump is some patriot. It was patriotic to attack the parents of a dead soldier. It was patriotic for a draft dodger to say McCain is not a hero because he was captured. Trump was a patriot for grabbing the flag and holding it against his body at a campaign rally, contrary to all the rules for honoring the flag but fully in line with how Trump acts around women. Speaking of flags, it's patriotic to say time and again that there are some "fine people" who march beside the Nazi banner, a symbol of an evil tens of thousands of Americans died to defeat. It's also patriotic to not pay taxes, share intelligence with the Russians, attack free press, leverage the power of the presidency for personal financial gain, and do one's very best to exploit the tragedy of racial hatred for personal political advantage. But protesting at a football game? That's unpatriotic. Trump ought to know.
4
It’s hard enough to understand how anyone could have voted for Donald Trump. He didn’t hide who he was, who he aligned himself with or what his ideas (the few he had/has) were. But how on earth could any person of color, any color, or a member of a minority of any kind (I’m including the majority of white women in this country) vote for a known racist who wouldn’t rent apartments to black people?.... a misogynist who assaulted women verbally and otherwise....? It’s mind boggling.
4
Where can I buy a t-shirt with my heroes on it: Charles Blow, LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Colin Kaepernick?
4
“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
This works for gay people in the same way.
1
I often think it a miracle there are any black and brown folks left on this continent at all with the horrible things white Europeans have done to us. They will never truly atone and Trump's election proves it.
1
So why not leave?
1
Why leave when you can stay and conquer?
Did you leave while Obama was president?
2
I am so sorry.
4
Trump is too ignorant of history to realize his great insensitivity to long-term injustices, as well as pandering to his base. Expect to see more of this, especially if the Mueller investigation heats up. Witness, too his treatment of Puerto Rico's situation. The man is incapable of demonstrating any true empathy, because he lacks it.
2
Take A Stand, Not A Knee #TASNAK
Thank-you Mr. Blow for your thought provoking writing today...trump's manipulation and ignorance of history knows no bounds.
2
Slavery was bad and inhumane, Blow. No one is disputing that. And you're certainly welcome to document the horrors. The execution of 14-year old Stinney in 1944 is awful; even if he was convicted of murdering two girls (you left that out of the article).
My ancestors came to America from Germany in the 1880s. I hear the Bronx tenements they lived in were nothing to write home about.
The flag is trenched in a lot of peoples' blood, Blow. Blacks don't have a monopoly on ill treatment or sacrifice or patriotism.
NFL players evidently have the right to disrespect the flag and the national anthem at their workplace. The NFL elects not to enforce their own written rules about player behavior during the national anthem. It's a good thing Colin Kapernick didn't wear his cops as pigs socks though (or his Castro shirt)-- that the NFL would have enforced.
The only color the NFL cares about is green. And, if players can protest the country that has made them rich and celebrities, the rest of us have the right to spend our green elsewhere.
5
Mr. Blow writes so strongly and never wavers. I so look forward to his writings!!
i am a 72 year old white male, who is so embarrassed to have Donald Trump as our President. Charles' writings continue to give me hope as we weather this nation nightmare. And we will get through this!!
Thank you also to the NYT for supporting Mr. Blow!!
4
Can't thank you enough.
2
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." -Sinclair Lewis
5
The kneelers disrespect the brave solders and police officers, including black solders and police officers, who shed blood to preserve their right to kneel.
5
Trump proves that "patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".
Trump and his mob have re-awakened and promoted all that is ugly and hateful about this country.
Trump ignores the plight of Puerto Ricans because they have brown skin.
America, far from being made "great again" has been demeaned in the world, it remains to be seen whether beyond redemption or not.
And the republicans are silent.
3
A powerful column, Mr. Blow. Thank you
4
White flight--from the reality of the stain of race in America--is America's enduring pandemic. It's shut up inside the sagging house, shuttered, shunned, disavowed, disowned. It must be something like looking in a mirror and avoiding what stares back at you.
Curtis Mayfield, the great (black) American singer, in 1969, wrote and sang, with his Impressions, the song "This Is My Country." The late Mr. Mayfield was telling America what they certainly didn't want to hear: that black people have a stake and much pride in this country; for, like it or not, when a seedling is uprooted from its natural soil and placed elsewhere, its natural instinct is to grow and propagate.
White America, by and large, acknowledge slavery and its horrible consequences grudgingly, if at all, probably something like walking by a cemetery and refusing to acknowledge that death is buried there. They hurry on, eyes averted.
Worse, white America thinks that because we black folks arrived here in ways different from themselves, they're more acceptable, more legitimate as American citizens, because their ancestors (in America, anyway) never bent the knee nor bore the yoke. They would be surprised to know that slavery was a staple of Europe. The word "slave" has its origins in the word slav. Google "slav" and "slaves" and you'll find this: "The slavs, who inhabited a large part of Eastern Europe, were taken as slaves by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD."
And the truth hurts, does it not?
1
As the civil rights legend Fannie Lou Hamer once said, “The flag is drenched with our blood.”
Ms. Hamer had first hand knowledge of that awful truth. NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers was murdered at night by a sniper in his own driveway. Mortally wounded, Evers was taken to a hospital in Jackson where he was at first denied admittance because he was black.
Jazz singer Bessie Smith was gravely wounded in a car accident in Clarksdale but a "whites only" hospital would not admit her. She died a short time later.
Young Emmett Till's horrible story is perhaps the face of Mississippi's attitude and treatment of black people. The Chicago boy was accused of whistling at a white woman and subsequently lynched and murdered. The woman later confessed that she lied -- fifty years later.
Mack Charles Parker was taken from his jail cell by a white mob, beaten and lynched because of accusations that he raped a white woman.
Malcolm X and Martin Luther Kind died because they stood up to and and denounced America's Jim Crow society. Medgar, Malcolm and Martin died for justice and first class citizenship for black Americans and their blood is stained indelibly on the American flag. Emmett Till and Mack Charles Parker were ordinary citizens who were killed just because they were black, hence, their blood also soaks the Stars and Stripes as well.
And we cannot forget the blood spilled in Mississippi in 1964 by civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner.
2
Of course Trump's attacks on NFL players are about race. Every day it becomes more clear that, in his heart, Trump is a vicious racist.
1
Right on, Mr. Blow. In a healthy democracy, the flag has unique meaning for each person. In an unhealthy regime, the flag is non-negotiable. It is a prop to use against anyone who questions "patriotism."
Taking a knee is the most respectful form of non-violent protest I can imagine. It is an honorable gesture. It is infuriating that black lives DO NOT matter to the president and his ignorant followers. It is disgraceful and it is a continuation of the de-humanization that is part and parcel of racist ideology.
It seems it is okay for we white people to exploit and to enjoy the fruits of black labor--be it music, literature, professional sports, or those who serve the military--but we whites apparently draw the line at....black people who have the audacity to stick up for themselves. What nerve!
2
A white NFL football player, Tim Tebow, takes a knee for Christ and he is hailed as a proud Christian. A black NFL football player, Colin Kaepernick, takes a knee to bring attention to racial profiling by police and the shooting of unarmed black men at traffic stops, and he receives death threats. And the worst person to occupy the Oval Office in the history of America sees yet another opportunity to divide Americans. Ask yourself if a man who denigrates a former POW now U.S. Senator and attacks a Gold Star family (Muslim) who lost a son in Iraq cares a wit about the American flag as other than a device to divide us.
4
Why can't Americans grasp the sickening hypocrisy behind the words "service.... respect for the flag... respect for the anthem, etc." coming out of the mouth that the draft dodger in chief, Donald Trump?
4
Empathy. Until and unless the torrent of horrific, damning statistics, the country's purposefully "hidden history", that you, Charles, so compelling set forth in this column enters the consciousness and conscience of White America via a broad-based societal educational effort, present ignorant group-think will remain. With our racially divisive Fake President in the White House a precious opportunity has not only been tragically extinguished, but the situation badly worsened by his inflammatory words and actions. You and other opinion leaders need to carry on, in this vacuum, and seek with the dissemination of knowledge to penetrate White America's vast indifference, racial illiteracy, and hopefully in the end, prejudice.
3
Brutally painful column to write & read - the truth "Blow's" me away!
1
And many of the people complaining about taking a knee during the National Anthem, fly Confederate flags, or even Nazi flags, and support statues to confederate generals.
The confederacy is the enemy of the United States of America, because it attacked the federal government (to keep their slaves). The Nazis were also enemies of the United States. Our flag opposed their flag in battle, but white supremacists carry that flag around. They are traitors.
1
Charles Blow continues to be one of the most consistent, most insightful and most truthful observers and critics of the insanity we've created. How about a compromise: Everyone stands for the national anthem at sports venues, provided it's played as background to public readings of his articles?
2
Mr. Blow's postuing hypocrisy is really childish. Unfortunately, it represents the outlook of many Americans today. Talking about a patriotism that is "particularly fraught" is evasive and self-flattering. It's like saying, "Yea, I'm patriotic. I love my country, the USA, but I'll tell you, it's a fraught patriotism, because my country is run by disgusting racists and other pigs."
Mr. Blow and the rest of the well-heeled narcissists who call themselves liberals in the US today should stop trying to construct a flattering political personal for themselves out of whining about being victims of history. I'd say they should have the courage of their convictions, but they'd have to get some convictions first. If threy had any convictions they'd see that their theatrical "protest" has nothing to do with the real deal: people like Ali, Smith and Carlos who seriously took it to the establishment over real issues, and didn't pout like a pampered spouse in a gilded cage.
3
Stating historical facts isn't whining about being a victim of history.
Not in the way that the white Trumpist working class complain about being victims of progressive liberalism and global elites.
3
benedict donald is a traitor and his motivation is to do Vladimir's bidding against the U.S.. PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
However, Charles column is about more than the aforementioned slime-bag and unfortunately there is this racism in the country and it concomitant violence. The only solution that seems possible is the total integration of all people so that all our appearances are the same. At least that would eliminate one reason to hate someone. A step in the correct direction.
1
Bible thumpin hypocites
wave the flag to cover it
states rights
born and raised
home of the free
and land of the slave
1
there is a flag that was conceived and flown as a symbol of slavery and all its corollary atrocities, the middle passage, the reduction of human beings to chattel, bought, sold and abused in every way. That flag is the confederate flag, still a lingering symbol.
the constitution of the confederacy, said CSA vice president alexander stephens "has put to rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution - African slavery as it exists among us - the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization."
There is another flag, conceived by a rebellious people as a symbol of resistance to tyranny (call it a protest) and a promise of freedom for all, and first flown under revolutionary war fire and later in opposition to the values of the confederacy. That flag is the stars and stripes.
The nation under that flag has been far from perfect,
the flag has been flown over atrocities: the genocide of original tribes; the inner cites, poor schools, unequal opportunities in the catalog of social injustice; the lies and liars of viet nam (now on view nightly on PBS) and so on...but it does not stand for those things, it stands for the will to oppose them, a will and purpose we concede if we let the abusers denature the flag that symbolizes them.
if the flag flap, the free speech ruckus, the bricks and slogans don't add up to subversion, the confusion, disunity and erosion of will stated in russian plan to destroy democracy, you're not paying attention.
1
Actually, Charles, American blacks aren't special. A unique experience, perhaps, but not special by race -- your own African bros sold your own ancestors (?) out. Everybody's blood is all over the flag, and other groups have their own sob stories. Trump is no worse that Sharpton. Waste your time trying to get present privilege out of your distant past if you want, but the corporations are out to get us all, and you are helping them with your quite predictable meditations.
4
Of course, this has everything to do with race - there is no other rational explanation as to why only white people are offended by African American players kneeling during the anthem. Furthermore, these same white fervent Trump supporters - who have spent the week screaming their loyalty to troops, flag and country - have no problem with a draft dodger Trump who demeans the war hero McCain and gold star families. These same devotees of flag and service people do not demand better VA service, more financial benefits to vets or any of the other policies that would meaningfully honor our veterans. This is everything about race. I keep waiting for one white person to articulate what form of protest by African Americans and their allies would be acceptable to them. In the meantime, gun toting Nazis menacing an entire community are fine, upstanding citizens exercising their "god given" rights. But race has nothing to do with it.
2
This is a first-rage article Mr.blow. it reminds us of how things have changed somewhat, yet have largely remained the same.
2
Charles, two things that may seem unimportant to you - please consider.
Your phrase "...that this has nothing to do with race..."
Trump's problem is his deep RACISM, that is his belief that jews, people with different ethnicities than his, muslims, and others are to be looked down and treated as if they are less intelligent, less able, less everything than he DT.
And this phrase: "...majority-white base..." White in that phrase refers to a mythical white-race invented by racists. As an American whose very old birth certificate says color - white, I deeply resent being put in the same white "race" as Trump and his new Nazi supporters but the USCB puts me there.
So I ask you once again, why not explain to Donald Trump that we are all members of the only race, the human, with the same genome except for small differences resulting from our histories. My skin color differs from yours because my ancestors' skin color had to change in order to get enough Vitamin D from the weak Swedish sun.
Racism is forever. Reading Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad could teach even a Trump supporter just how deep the roots of Trump-white racism directed at even a one-drop black are.
Try this rephrasing of your phrase: "Everything has to do with the AMERICAN belief that there are genetically distinct races and only the one called white can be superior."
FALSE!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen US SE
2
Thank you, Blow. Article spells it out. Makes it clear. Makes me feel the shame of being white in this country.
1
Do you realize that, by writing what you did, you've just confirmed every negative stereotype that conservatives have about white liberals?
Your best column.
1
Powerful. Thank you, Charles Blow.
1
The history of civilization is drenched in everyone's blood.
3
Go, go, Charles Blow! Spot on, as usual.
1
Given the litany of woe you have recited here Mr. Blow, the words of Frederick Douglass written 165 years ago yet sting.
“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to
him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which
he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted
liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds
of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted
impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers
and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and
solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a
thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is
not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are
the people of the United States, at this very hour.”
We have made progress, but how much? Our president is an unabashed apologist for white supremacy.
3
There is no excuse for disrespecting America and those who have dies protecting the freedoms we enjoy. The data presented in this article must be fact checked because it is in large part completely wrong. The reference of the civil war being fought over slavery is an excuse because Lincoln made it clear what his position was on the black race. When the war started he clearly stated he had no thought of eliminating slavery, and indeed the EP only freed slaves in the rebellious states. The BLM movement arises out of a total fraud in Ferguson where a thug attacked a police officer and was shot. There was no "hands up, don't shoot", it was a total lie...just like BLM. In Chicago alone the murder rate of black on black is horrific yet BLM could care less. There is no money in it. Blow is perpetuating the entire fraudulent discussion with articles like this and need to be taken to task for writing such nonsese.
6
To James (Houston)
I dare say to you sir, it is you who have your facts all wrong.
You need to read Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Speech. He clearly & unequivocally states the move by Southern Slave States to secede is by & large over continued slavery in the South & country. It was The South which started the Civil War. How the war was fought on the battlefield & in the rhetoric was to reunite the states & end slavery.
The Black Lives Matter Movement was started in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted of Trayvon Martin's murder.
Kneeling during the National Anthem before Foot Ball games is an exercise of the players First Amendment Rights. There is no attempt to disrespect those who died protecting our freedoms. It is a cry for America to live up to our creed & respect the same freedoms for African Americans as well as all Americans who weren't born white Christians. This is our America as well! What we want is to be treated without prejudice & for white Christian America to acknowledge our freedoms aren't abided by equally.
The statements in you commentary shows a deep contempt for Black Americans.
Have you ever once imagined what it is truly like to be a young Black man in this country? Or to be the parents of a Black child? Have you ever had to tell your children to be extra careful if you should be confronted by racist bullies or local police? Have you ever gone to bed & woken up with fear for your child's safety for just living their lives every day?
1
Black history IS American history.
2
Survivors of the atrocities of Nazi Germany do not have to constantly justify their right to say Never Again. Their are no statutes of the leaders of Nazi Germany anywhere civilized people live in the world . On the other hand the suffering of black people in America is most of time dismissed as something in the past and that things are no longer the same. We are told the founding fathers were great and noble men even though most of them own slaves. Black people have served in every war America has had since Crispus Attucks was killed in the 1770 at the Boston Massacre. With all of that said we are told today that wealthy black men have no right to protest what is happening to their less wealthy brothers and sisters. People honor the Queens of England by taking a knee but these well to do black men are disrespecting Veterans and the Flag by taking a knee.We are told by our president that the owners of these players should make them stand up. That reminiscent to slave auctions where slaves were forced to be strippped and stand to be inspected to see if they were worth buying. Our president has shown on constant occasions that he has no since of world history and now he has shown he has no since of American History. i personally think sports is the opiate of the poor and disadvantage. To temp poor kids to want to be like Mike instead of Thurgood, Martin or Malcolm is ensuring future generations gladiators who are only to entertain for they dare not be Men.
4
Free men don't kneel, they stand.
1
Who said anything about being "free"?
2
Someone needs to send this column to Colonel Kristie Kibbie Etue, head of the Michigan State Police. Last Sunday on her Facebook Page, she called athletes who took a knee "degenerates." She said they were "rich, entitled, and ungrateful." She's one of those .....they should be thankful they have money types and she is the leader of the Michigan State Police.
Excellent column, Mr. Blow.
3
The truth shines through Charles Blow`s writing. I remember Fannie Lou Hamer speaking in New York City in the 1950s. And yes, as she said, our flag is drenched with the blood of the enslaved black people, the freed black people, and now the black men who kneel at the national anthem in NFL football. Donald Trump is Simon Legree in a red tie, a white shirt and a blue suit.
2
As an antidote to the Romanticized Confederacy, fans of Aunt Jemima should take a look at JMW Turner's "The Slave Ship".
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slave_Ship)
Enough blood there to float a ship and the sharks, too.
1
Can we please - after this NFL fiasco and Charlottesville - dispense with the benevolent explanations of Trump's base? What has been in plain view from the beginning is that Trump is leading an angry, racist, ignorant mob. This is not about economic anxiety in the heartland. These people are deplorable.
3
That flag is drenched with only red blood, and from many diverse type people. When you disrespect that flag, you disrespect America and Americans, no hyphen needed. Charles, its 2017, its time the sore losers act like it...yet they find it necessary to look into past centuries in order to keep the hate alive, and they are a diverse group as well..to be continued...
2
"We have to accept that different Americans see pride and principle differently, but that makes none of them less American." This is absolutely true, and yet Charles Blow continues to speak as if he represents ALL black Americans. Which of course he does not.
I read a very interesting piece in Commentary magazine this week by Jason D. Hill, also a black American. I wish the Times would offer some diversity in its opinions, rather than publishing what seems like a different version of the same Charles Blow column every week.
2
If it is so bad here why are so many black people coming here.
A lot of those numbers aren't relevant because they happened more than two hundred years ago and the ones taken now is because the amount of criminal behavior is greater in the black community.
This is not a race issuie'
This has become a issue about Trump.
The Times and especially Charles Blow are using this issue to attack Trump
and the people who voted for him.
2
It wasn't about Trump until Trump made it about Trump. That's what he does. He makes things about himself because he is a spoiled brat desperate for attention.
2
Excuse me, but Trump does not write Mr. Blow's columns. And you don't know Trump, so you really have no basis to call him a "spoiled brat". Since it seems he does support his family, and extended family very well, and since his ex wives don't seem to be complaining, I doubt if he is a spoiled brat. Maybe NFL players who make more money in one season than most working class Americans will see in their entire lives are the truly spoiled brats?
1
The flag is drenched in America's blood. All races, religions and genders. Not one race!!!
You are quick to point to statistics in this story. Thanks for the history lesson and now lets bring everyone current. You left out the fact that around 250 African Americans were killed by police last year which was down 15%. Any number is too many but the problem is headed in the right direction. More important, you left out the fact that around 7,900 African Americans were killed by other African Americans last year which was up 15%.
You want to protest something...I suggest you go kneel at the Southside border in Chicago
2
trump is one to claim patriotism, as he insulted most Americans from all walks of life to TAKE the white house from a majority of unwilling Americans. The "red blood of patriots" line coming from an orange blooded coward (red with YELLOW) prefers siding with world tyrants and foes of America's military than Americans.
It makes me nauseous to see this man faux patriotism at wreath laying ceremonies, addressing our troops and when the national anthem is played in his presence.
He spurned the nation with a spurious excuse of a foot spur, all to spur his accumulation and hoarding of wealth at the nation's expense while dividing us on behalf of Putin.
Mr. Blow, your recap of the early years of this country is a description nothing short of a Holocaust perpetrated on black human beings - with elements that continue today.
1
In 1852 Frederick Douglass gave a speech explaining how the black man views our Fourth of July.
That Douglass a free black man was asked to speak about our glorious independence was unfathomable to him. They saw a black man who was articulate and had “done well” in society. That he should be “grateful” for all of the “blessings” bestowed by the white man.
It was a long speech but this paragraph sums up the “fire in his bones.”
"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is...
Trump and the fake patriots who wrap themselves in the flag STILL say the black man should be “grateful.”
4
I Looked up "speculum oris". Then spent the next hour looking at photos of terribly scarred black men's backs from the most sadistic whippings, photos of horrific lynchings, with the gathering, smiling white people. The slave trade. The slave reality. The absolute horror of whites inhumanity upon blacks. For hundreds of years. All bearing testimony to the American flag being drenched in the blood of the black race.
My gal and I cheered in joy this morning seeing the photo of that old, rich southern white man, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, out there on the field with his whole team kneeling before the anthem.
3
It is so tedious to be patriotic here, There are to many things i am supposed to remember. i am supposed to: remember the Maine, and remember Pearl Harbor, and remember the Lusitania, and remember the Alamo and now 9/11.
I also have to remember the Hate, Russia, North Korea, those Muslims, China, and all enemy's of Israel, and of course all those Mexicans, and all those Iranians who rightfully kicked us out of their Country. Who don't we hate. And now the Anthem. I don't have time for any of that. i'll take a knee instead. America the land of Never Forgive, Never Forget. You can have it, I don't need it.
2
An important article, once again. Thank you Mr Blow for continuing to be America's conscience in chief
1
Charles I hate to heap another dastardly act upon those you cite, however let the truth be told of the eugenics program whereby they sterilized young black free women, under the pretext that they were getting regular medical check ups. Of course it was all done under the seemingly benign doctors who carried out these dastardly acts. Let us also not forget the Tuskegee syphillis experiment.
Read Colon Whitehead's book "Underground Railroad". Let the truth be finally told.
1
Trump isn't just a racists, he's an active racist.
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If the USA is such an evil, racist, horrible nation why are so many people trying to come here?
And just a reminder: There is actually no law forcing people to honor the flag or our national anthem.
There is also no law forcing anyone to stay here.
And honestly, if you can't honor our nation why don't you consider leaving? Wealthy people in the 1% like the author of this Op/Ed certainly have the means.
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But their are laws about shooting innocent men, women and children who happen to be Black.
2
You're the one who can't handle a silent peaceful protest. You should consider leaving. Try Russia or Saudi Arabia.
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Mr Blow ,
thank you , KEEP speaking out .
1
Keep writing, Mr. Blow. As a white educated (through grad school) liberal, the information in your column about the black experience is most always -- shockingly -- new to me. The depth of tragedy is nearly unbearable. Until we teach the entire country what blacks know, there's no way forward.
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The American ideal is a hoax built on lies and sustained by the blood of others. The national anthem is a paen to war and the conveniently elided third stanza honors slavery. What rank hypocrisy!
1
Charles,
I so appreciate your blunt telling of history, not couched in high minded rhetoric or gobbledygook of verbal massage like Brooks, Stephens, and Dowd.
Please keep hammering at the truth to keep it in front of us, to not let us forget the major con that is being pulled over the entire country, thanks to brainwashed delusional suckers. Hopefully we'll survive this.
2
First- protesting slavery doesn't make much sense when the protestors were never enslaved and make millions of dollars to be big and fast. Second- black people are killed by cops at rates that exceed their population because black people commit much more violent crime than white peoples. Cops are around deadly black people more often than their share of the population would suggest. You can scream racism all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that black people, for whatever reason, are, on average, more violent than white people. Worry about the biggest cause of black murders- other black people
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Thank you Charles!
2
I wonder what actual blacks from yesteryear would be saying about today's blacks, who actually have the freedoms and opportunities the slaves wish they had back then, and yet, today, continuously complain about anything and everything, and don't use those freedoms and opportunities to strive and become successful. I would bet they would be highly disappointed.
1
I watched Hidden Figures recently, the movie based on the true story history of 3 African American women who broke through so many barriers and all be vital to the success of early NASA. Those 3 would be embarrassed. Too much complaining, not enough doing.
America loves her sports heroes, America especially loves the NFL -- the majority of NFL players are now black...America loves to cheer and bet on NFL games - America stands and congratulates those Black players who are so swift and strong - loves them until they remove their helmets.
1
You sir are allowing the left to use you and convince you of your victimhood. You should thank the heavens every day that you live here. I do and I am a minority too.
Where was this column when Obama was in office?
Has the removal of any statues helped the inner cities?
Every day there is another reason for someone to be outraged...this is ridiculous
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Face it. SOON, brown people will outnumber white people, in this country. Looking very much forward to that day.
2
Charles Blow focuses on interracial violence during previous centuries because he knows that today interracial violence is overwhelmingly black-on-white violence, not white-on-black. The 2016 FBI Uniform Crime Report was released Monday. Expanded Homicide Data Table 3 (Race, Ethnicity, and Sex of Victim by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex of Offender) shows 533 blacks murdered whites (including Hispanics) while 243 whites (including Hispanics) murdered blacks. This isn’t a statistical aberration. Previous UCRs show the same thing.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/...
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Bless your heart. "we get it".
1. So ,yes the demonstrations are indeed in your view a rejection of "America", its traditions and values and you are somehow surprised when people react negatively to it because you can only see the bad and negative?
2. You recounting of current situation is at best disingenuous, at worst ... For example, your clear implication that black men make up the largest prison population because they are black and in effective it is a new form of "sucking" slavery is absurd, patently false, and inflammatory. They make up the largest prison population because they commit the most violent crime, just as MEN in general commit the most violate crime and make up over 90% of the prison population ... not because we are misogynist, but because they are criminals.
3. Black men are NOT shot at higher rates than white men by police when appropriately controlled for violent crime and encounters with police, again no more so than men being shot more by police than women .... it is NOT because of the color of their skin it is because of their behavior and conduct by and large.
You deliberately perpetuate disinformation to advance your own racist view it appears to me. Of course that is not to say there are not racist, and racist sentiments in people, but this are NOT the predominate causation as to the poor condition of the African American community today and to claim it is does virtually nothing to assist the community or advance the dialog.
3
Your best column ever.
3
"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter From A Birmingham Jail
2
Why would anyone be patriotic to a country that kept them as slaves? If I was a black man I'd want America burned to the ground. To their credit (or not), blacks have taken it all in stride.
1
America's "original sin" lives on in our Sinner-in-Chief and his racist white nationalism that is not just against black Americans, but brown and tan ones as Hispanic and Muslim immigrants have already learned and the neglected Puerto Rican victims of Hurricane Maria are now experiencing. This is not about the "red, white, and blue," but about race-baiting and overt racism by Donald Trump and his "whites only" base who are attacking, banning, deporting, and just neglecting those who are "black, brown, and tan" as inferior and corrupting "racial purity." It's the latest form of murderous cruelty that is the dark side of our blood-spattered, bigoted history.
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I have an idea. all of the horrible slave related acts happened a long time ago. we went to war to end it. GET OVER IT!!
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And lets not forget a certain real estate tycoon's blatant discrimination against blacks in his housing complexes.
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Anthems and salutes are fascist. Fascists destroy the lives of people, as we see everyday in America.
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If you see these protests as dis honoring our flag and troops;then you are a racist first and a patriot second. Well maybe not a real racist,but as long as you ignore the reason for the protest you are contributing to the problem. My father,my brother,nephews,cousins have all fought for this country, and two of them gave their lives defending our rights. If you wish to see real dishonoring of our flag then look to those who agree and think as Trump does that there are some very fine people putting the American flag next to the Nazi swastika.
1
The whole idea of honoring the flag instead of what it represents is what is awry with this debate.
That wonderful Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu said " when the finger points to the moon, don't worship the finger".
Duh- we are worshiping the finger.....
1
Thanks Charles for another great reminder of why the black man deserves respect for feeling the way he does. Too many of us just don't understand or choose not to understand. Their stupid attitudes make me ashamed of the color of my skin. Makes me ashamed of the human race. We call ourselves one thing and behave another way. Hypocrites!!!
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Sadly, Charles, you are preaching to the choir. While the NYT has national and even international reach, it is not read by those who would benefit most by reading this really excellent column.
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OK, Dave - I'll bite. Why don't you educate us and tell us about "those that would benefit most". Perhaps I'm one of those people, but then I read these unhinged and hateful Blow columns roughly twice a week every week. I disagree with almost everything this man spews, but I respect his right to spew. The fact is that there are many, many conservatives who read these hateful columns so that they (we) know what the other end of the political spectrum thinks and writes. It's what adults do. Most of the readers who write here are Blow's disciples. Unlike me, most conservatives don't bother writing because they feel it's a waste of time. I don't think it's a waste of time. You might pull yourself out of the Charles Blow echo chamber from time to time and actually consider another side of things.
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That's no reason not to write about it.
SILENCE = CONSENT.
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Again with this! Those of us who do read the Times can re-post brilliant articles like this one on social media and thereby increase their readership geometrically if not exponentially. Being silent does help. Their more people in the building than the choir.
1
"... to the best of (his) ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution ..." from the presidential oath of office.
I suppose the 'best of his ability' part frees him up from actually preserving, protecting, and defending, but to outright ignore the fundamental free speech guarantees of the first amendment and to incite divisiveness and hatred toward those who disagree with his interpretations seems downright aiding and abetting to those enemies desiring the dissolution and downfall of America. Seems impeachable to me, but I make no claim to constitutional legal scholarship. Those guarantees could apply only to rich, white men, but I think I would have noticed something like that in the text. Perhaps the Supreme Court interpreted it differently.
1
Thank you for this column, Mr. Blow. It brought to mind the interview with Roger Harris, an African American Viet Nam veteran in Ken Burns' documentary on Viet Nam. Harris described his attempts to get a taxi home to Roxbury after arriving in Boston at the end of his tour. He was passed by until a nearby state trooper stepped in and ordered a taxi driver to take him home. Our flag is indeed "drenched with our blood".
See Vietnam, in Black and White - The Boston Globe
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/11/vietnam-black-and-white/......
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When players take a knee is protest, they honor the flag because the United States was founded through protest. Our founding documents tell us it is not only our right to alter or to abolish governments that do not protect our human rights, but it is our duty.
These athlete are doing their patriotic duty. It is beyond the cheap, easy patriotism of simply standing for the national anthem and putting one's hand over one's heart. This is something more powerful. Colin Kaepernick has lost his livelihood for taking a stand by taking a knee.
I am boycotting the NFL until a team hires him.
See: http://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/2017/09/26/protest-is-patriotism/#more...
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Thank you, Mr. Blow. Don’t stop, keep pulling back the curtain on the inconvenient truths to easily forgotten like like Selma, Alabama, Emmit Till, and maybe how the gross open practices of Jim Crow morphed into James Crow, so that more “gentlemanly, palatable forms of repression could be practiced on the African American.
Keep telling the stories, hoping that perhaps a truth and reconciliation movement could take hold.
We in Canada are working to recognize and right past wrongs, for example, turning away a shipload of Jewish refugees in the 1930s, a shipload of South Asians in the 20’s, and recognizing that government policy was forcing our First Nations families to surrender their children to leave home for distant religious schools, and often abuse.
We cannot ignore the past, we must learn from it. And, the only way out, is through.
So, Mr. Blow keep shining a light on it.
Maybe Mr. Burns will look at, with the same brilliant style as with them Vietnam War-the African American experience, post Civil War, to now.
5
I am an 86 year old Korean War veteran. I enlisted in the US Army in July 1949 and took an oath to defend the Constitution among other obligations including obeying Officers over me. The rule to stand at attention and salute our Flag at ceremonies was mandatory for all military personnel. However, those citizens who never were required to take such an oath were never required to stand at attention or salute or to even hold their hand over their heart during the playing of our National Anthem. This has always been so. Our Constitution has no requirement of patriotism and has a very narrow view for what constitutes treason.
I do not like to see someone take a knee during the playing of our National Anthem and the raising of our Banner but I will defend their right to do so for whatever reason they are doing so excepting a treasonous intention. This is such a marvelous country and the freedoms we have are worth defending. I kneel to that.
2
I don't where this rule came from to play the S&S before every sporting event, usually complete with jets flying overhead, Navy Seals parachuting in and a singer struggling to make the final high. And the band, like at Stanford has their own rendition that can hardly be heard until the climax. I routinely sit to show my disapproval of this custom. Some say its disrespectful to Veterans who died for our Freedom, the most important of which is the right to free expression. But, trying to suppress acts of quiet dissent during the playing of the National Anthem is the supreme insult to those who died for that freedom.
3
The facts can be see in a different light such that while the past was horrific and the present is not perfect the USA today is truly a land of opportunity and acceptance regardless of race, gender or creed. Yes the criminal justice system and police methodology need fundamental changes and certainly there are egregious examples of failings. But even so look at how liberty and opportunity are accessible on an amazingly inclusive basis. This is why protest in the form of disrespect to the flag comes across as hatred for our country and alienates so many that rejoice in being part of our blessed and wonderful country!
2
The rest of your comment belies the assertion in your topic sentence. There are many countries with opportunities for African Americans, including the English speaking countries England and Canada as well as Scandinavia and France, to name a few. However, African Americans overwhelmingly choose to stay in the USA. WE LOVE THIS COUNTRY!
We can resolve issues that we don't even acknowledge. So please rethink what you wrote.
2
Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." - Samuel Johnson. I am offended that, of all people, Donald Trump should be casting aspersions about the patriotism of anyone. During the Vietnam war, he received 6 draft deferments and fought his battles in the dangerous environs of Club 54. I will not attempt to describe the horrific conditions of this battlefield, or of the danger he was in from the Super Models who had infiltrated the club, he has done so far better than could I, both in print and in his interviews with Howard Stern.
And it would be gilding the lily to point out his lack of respect for the freedoms enshrined in our Constitution since the man has shown no respect for anything of anyone.
3
Where I come from “taking a knee” is called “genuflecting.” To genuflect is to humble oneself and to show deference even servility. Those genuflecting during the anthem, show respect and deference to the anthem and the country it represents, and at the same time, they respectfully point out that the ideals expressed by the anthem and flag are not being realized for all. It is people like Trump who have denied black men full participation in the American economy since emancipation. Their recourse has been to create a shadow economy, which has put many of them in prison. However, a small percentage of black men have succeeded in participating in the legitimate American economy through sport. They have risen through talent, skill, and hard work to the pinnacle of their profession and are compelled to speak for others without the skill or talents they possess. When they do, the President of the United States insults them and threatens to take away their livelihood.
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Respect is respect. Personally, I feel that kneeling is a perfectly acceptable way to show that you do, indeed, live beneath the flag of our country, that listening to the words of the anthem on one knee symbolizes that yes, you honor those who have fallen for us. But that the job is not yet done. There are many injustices that need our attention. And even when those injustices are behind us, there are others. So to kneel, to link arms in solidarity and to do so peacefully is, to me, the ultimate symbol of respect to those who gave their lives. Perhaps we need to revisit the tradition.
4
Folks have asked me for my two cents of late on this highly charged issue because I am a three tour combat vet of Iraq. I remind folks the protest isn't about the flag or the National Anthem. For Trump and others want us at each other throats and distracted from the real issues facing our nation. The need for social justice and racial equality for all Americans. These are uncomfortable topics for majority of Americans because they either prefer the status quo or are ill equipped to deal with the core issue at hand. Trump neither has the desire or the inclination to deal with the core issues facing our nation. There is never a right time for protest or for change for often enough it comes at an inconvenient time for the powers that be. The Flag reminds us as a nation that we must constantly live up the ideals enshrined in that powerful symbol. We as citizens bring life to those powerful patriotic symbols. For that patriotic symbol is only strong as the nation or people whom are willing to carry it above the things that may divide us. The Flag flew in our nation's darkest hours and it will fly even more proudly when we come together as a nation to heal the last wounds buried deep in the body of our Republic. For we are all imperfect beings striving to make our great nation prefect for all. God Bless America!
6
Francis Scott Key, the author of the poem underlying the National Anthem -
was a wealthy slaveholder who advocated for slavery as the district attorney for the city of Washington.
According to The Smithsonian, in 1836, Key in "...U.S. v. Reuben Crandall, Key made national headlines by asking whether the property rights of slaveholders outweighed the free speech rights of those arguing for slavery’s abolishment. Key hoped to silence abolitionists..."
More of us need to realize and acknowledge that it is truly, literally everywhere in US history.
5
It's simple: Trump AND his base think that the Teams literally OWN the players. Or SHOULD. Just saying.
6
Coming of age in the 1960s taught me that, while the Stars & Stripes may be honored to represent our best American values of freedom and equality, it is often witness to some of our worst misadventures. From Vietnam to our most recent and bloody mission in Iraq, this powerful country often blunders where we don't belong, with tragic consequences. It's not hard to imagine what a very different emotion that flag conveys to the survivors of those misbegotten wars. We have a long way to go to even approach the high moral values to which we aspire. Colin Kaepernick was attempting to use his celebrity to silently, respectfully remind us that we urgently need to address some inequities in our country. The anthem is just a (terrible) song, the flag is just a colorful piece of cloth. It is the lives and liberties of all of our people to which we should be paying close attention.
3
It is difficult to hear the President and some of his supporters tout "disrespect" as the source of their anger towards players taking a knee.
The argument for 'disrespect' rings hollow as we recall that this is the same President (and "base") who showed utter disrespect and contempt for our previous President (questioning the birthplace of Obama, as though his name, heritage, and blackness made him un-American.)
Thomas Jefferson wrote of forming a "more perfect union", perhaps those who take a knee are Americans just initiating a dialogue, questioning whether we are falling short of the promises of this great nation.
3
As an immigrant, I have been fortunate to avail the very best of what this country has to offer. And yet, I would readily 'take the knee' in solidarity with the protesters. It reflects my deepest sense of appreciation for the Idea of America - the notions of equality and justice. I have internalized these to the core of my being and, thus, become American in the truest sense of the word. I have never attached too much importance to the symbols - like the flag and the anthem. Indeed, these symbols are beginning to seem more like a threat to my notion of America.
7
Well and truly said.
White America has run away from the truth of its brutal history and its continuing bigotry and oppression of people of color for too long.
I continue to advocate for a nationwide truth and reconciliation process that will finally break through the denial that persists regarding oppression and racism in this country and will allow us to to heal the festering sore of slavery's legacy, so that we can move beyond it to a better future for all Americans.
7
The response by the NLF players (and the US millitary and many others) to Trump's bigoted provocations is heartening. Why not focus more on that?
Human slavery, whether ancient or modern or Old World or New World, cannot be justified, excused or condoned.
1
This is not, at least to me, a First Amendment issue (with the possible exception or Mr. Trump's intervention) but one of simple contract law. When any of the players signed with their team, part of their contract was that they would obey the rules of the NFL during the games. It is an NFL rule that all players stand on the sidelines during the anthem.
There is, from a legal standpoint, no difference between a player deciding that his beliefs justify breaking this rule than there would be for a player to claim that his beliefs justify using a horse collar tackle during the game. Either is in direct contravention to the rules he voluntarily agreed to follow, and anyone who believes that honor requires doing what one agrees to will either follow the rules of an organization or resign from it should those rules be intolerable.
Race does not enter into my opinion, only keeping one's word.
4
So, if there wasn't rule, you'd be okay with it?
Because it's not a contractual obligation but a guide for conduct.
Ok now?
2
Ben - Yes, I would. However, this is just as much a rule, despite your distinction, as the "guide for conduct" that has players suspended or fined of domestic abuse accusations even if they are not convicted.
If these players had resigned because they did not feel that they could honor this part of the "guides" I would have honored them as courageous defenders of personal honor, rather than condemning them for not keeping their word.
Please cite the exact rule that the players are breaking. I haven't seen it.
2
Thank you again and again, Charles Blow, for using journalism to teach as expose. Thank you so much NYT for allowing this fine journalist to tell it like it is. Trump has to go, and go soon, hopefully with a little push from Mueller. Meanwhile we desperately need great newspapers and great journalists. Thanks again to you both.
5
Many Readers and many Americans seem to conflate the flag with support for the military. The flag represents all Americans not simply the military. We honor and support those who fought for this country. I have four siblings who served. We do not dishonor their service by protesting the flag. We bring a spotlight to the freedoms they fought for. Take a knee and take it with respect.
4
The American flag, from the objective perspective, is a piece of cloth with a particular design in three colors. It is also, in the subjective relation, a symbol. As a symbol it represents and what it represents is what we put into it. We find in it what we attribute to that colored piece of cloth. It stands for what we make it stand for. That could be what we were taught to put into it, and unthinking accept whole cloth, or what we personally have come to believe about what it stands for, based on experience as a citizen. For me it can be a symbol of respect for this country and an expression of gratitude for being an American. I also believe it can be a dangerous piece of cloth, as it is at times, when it becomes an instrument of propaganda as a symbol of nationalism and chauvinism and we find it stand for "the greatest people and the greatest country of all"!
1
Thank you for this, Mr. Blow. We must confront this history - in all of its horrifying detail - over and over and over because it IS the history of our country. These atrocities and prejudices are sewn into the very fabric of our nation (which, of course, those who object to the NFL players' protests prove in their outrage).
One additional chapter in this story is described in a book that I think should be required reading for all Americans: "Slavery by Another Name" by Douglas A. Blackmon, which shows how black forced labor continued well into the 20th century.
1
Thank you Charles for putting this discussion into perspective and giving it the context it sorely needs.
1
As a veteran I agree with President Trump. His opinion on respect due to the flag and the anthem has nothing to do with race.
1
Wow - I am surprised even here to see so many people saying "stay in your lane","Protest something else". Do people not realize that many people in the South thought that the front of the bus or a seat at the counter was also disrespectful and no place to protest? We would not even be discussing the ongoing pervasive racism in the US if they had not taken a knee. That's the whole point. Using a public place to highlight an injustice. Whats equally important though is what comes next? Will we as a country work to stop gerrymandering? Voter suppression based on color and income? Better education for better outcomes?
1
this is an extremely powerful editorial with a truthful message that many will refuse to hear or consider.
2
I just want to thank Mr. Blow for being spot in in his dissection of these issues in each of his editorials. An "insider's" point of view is the most crucial in these discussions, and it is a real blessing to have someone writing for the Times so honestly and with such deep historical insight and passion. That passion is so finely controlled and strengthens, rather than muddies, his prose. His is quite an achievement in this moment of American political rhetoric.
1
One more time we are going to argue about "honoring the flag" yet this honor doesn't seem to extend to American values or how America adopted those values that support the flag - just the flag please. Less than 1/3 of Americans can tell you whether the Civil War was before or after WW1 and can't name the 3 branches of government. Details, details,details. Less than 60% of eligible voters voted in the 2016 Presidential election. Just give me that flag and I will honor it but don't make the price to high such as showing up at the polls. So as soon as someone mentions honoring the flag I know what is about to follow is blow heart wind bag opinion but when the NFL players knelt I realized they understood the American values that flag represented - freedom to peacefully protest and racial equality.
3
Thank you. This will be shared with every student in my class today.
1
I'm proud to be a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.
My ancestors fought at Bunker Hill and Lexington and Concord.
The American Flag has been flying upside down at my home since November.
Its about honoring the patriots who fought and died to establish our precious democracy, not the traitors who are trying to tear it apart.
1
Our military fights for what America stands for, not just for our flag and our anthem, which are symbolic of greater ideas. Our military has long fought for the principles and ideas that make America great, and that is in fact what the NFL protests are also doing. These protests are against the MISUSE of American symbols by those who are disgracing America itself, which includes Trump and anyone else who believes racism has a place in the American Dream. This should be obvious to anyone. As Samuel Johnson said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". No matter how much a scoundrel wraps himself in red, white, and blue it does not change who he is.
3
This country desperately needs to come to terms with its real history, all of it. Both/and, what Blow eloquently describes and what July 4 and the Flag celebrate, how it look and how it has been lived from all directions. Like Frederick Douglass when he asked "what to the slave is the fourth of July," the kneeling football players know that. The brave and determined people who went to Standing Rock know it too. Donald Trump has not the slightest clue, even about the parts well worth celebrating, let alone the hard reality on which it all rests.
1
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for another well-researched article that gives us all a wider perspective on race and patriotism in America.
Does anyone else see the sad hypocritical irony that Trump attacks NFL players as unpatriotic yet steadfastly remains unpatriotic himself in the whole Russia-election affair?
1
God bless you for this column today, Mr. Blow. I am entering into a stage in which I am grateful for what is happening to us in America politically. We have forgotten about walking a mile in another's shoes or moccasins. This is because, for one thing, our children's history books have never told the criminal truths you reveal here. Never truth. And this has some bearing on how an alt-white, neo-Nazi, KKK backlash took roots. Another thing is we have fled from each other as if our souls knew the truth but but our cognitive selves refused to admit it. I am a white woman living in a black neighborhood now for nearly half a century. and. while I have learned some of the woundedness of my neighbors' sojourn in this land, I do not know all of it and probably never will. These wounds are tended in the black community and not often entrusted to the gaze of whites. For good reason. But we are all being exposed to the wounds of our interwoven histories now. We are being given the choice to walk in each others' shoes or not. After Charlottesville I realized with pain that our suppression of the truth of black history has ignited the fire of hate in whites who have learned what we did and still do to black people. In a crazy explosion of the "aha" vehicle I am becoming grateful for
Trump, for his associates, for this weird beckoning into a second chance for our country. It could happen. Forgiveness. Restoration.
1
This country elected a black president twice. That's absolutely astonishing considering the history. This is not the same country from 50, 100 or 500 years ago. I don't know whether wallowing in the past too much is the right thing to do. The fact is that the majority of this country IS ready to judge a person based on character and not race. A positive attitude is what is now needed most. That's why I don't agree with the NFL protest.
The real "crime" committed by players who kneel for the anthem is their refusal to go along with the pretense that everything is fine in this now prejudice-free society. That pretense is really important to the huge number of people who don't want to think of themselves as racist but who have every intention of continuing to benefit from white privilege (aka the status quo). It's less uncomfortable to see these players as disrespecting the flag than to see them as protesting very real injustices. A bizarre irony in all this was the reaction of the many displeased fans on Sunday; they responded to the players' refusal to pretend that everything is fine by booing. By the same logic that makes the players' protest into disrespect for the flag and anthem, weren't these booing fans disrespecting the flag and anthem, too?
1
This is a powerful, informative thought-provoking essay. It is important for all of us to gain a better understanding of American History. Speaking as a feminist, I feel it is important to stress that Trump and the oligarchs supporting him not only support and cultivate racism... With equal force they promote misogyny.
It is not only RACISM that's hard at work destroying the foundation of our democratic society... it's twin MISOGYNY is alive, well and thriving.
3
Get over it, Charles, and move forward as our Nation has over the decades. You recite the terrible abuses wrought on Afro-Americans. Of course, this is relevant history and needs to be told. However, these types of demonstrations by NFL athletes is an affront to the country that has given them great opportunity and great wealth. You, for one, have thrived You, for one, have thrived in an environment that would not provide that opportunity only a few decades ago.
Not standing up for the National Anthem insults all Americans, particularly those whose service protects the freedoms we all enjoy. There are other places to vent their anger and frustration as well as places to demonstrate. How about Chicago where Black on Black violence is rampant? That's relevant.
Rather than decry the past, praise the advancements. Move forward rather dwell on the past. Most Americans have. Our nation is far better now than 200, 100 or even 10 years ago. To say that President Trump's remarks creates "racial hostility" is a false narrative that only perpetuates divisiveness rather than unity. Perhaps that is your real purpose.
3
This column should be required reading in all high school history classes. The real story of patriotism in America is the loyalty and fidelity displayed over the past 241 years to the United States by its black citizens and those of mixed race. Their presence in a home that has so often been hostile is a far greater example of patriotism than standing during the national anthem.
2
Thank you Charles for this column: Most do not know- or care to know the gritty horrific details of African Slavery: it suffices that Slavery-Was-Then-it-Wasn't. A war was fought. The Great Emancipator said:" Let there be no more Slaver." Yes- the blood on the U.S. Flag is drenched with the blood of black men,women, children, grandmas and grandpas, aunties, uncles and neighbors.
1
Honestly, I think most Americans are just done. We have extended good will as far as we possibly could. At this point, if you can't get over the past, if you hate this country so much, if it's so awful and evil and wrong, then why don't you just leave? Nothing is keeping you here, you're free to go somewhere else that suits you better. I would even support a stipend to help you on your way.
Those of us who remain will be about loving this country,helping it grow and prosper, and uniting in living our lives without interference, and without being expected to be responsible for the poor choices of others.
3
Black Americans have been paying the price for the mistakes of white Americans for generations and you call it "goodwill."
3
In the mid 1980's I attended a Congressional hearing in DC. Afterwards I was sitting outside on the steps of one of the House Buildings near the Capitol and a column of soldiers approached walking towards Penn. Avenue. They appeared to be a military delegation from a Latin American country, perhaps it was El Salvador. I looked and wondered what crimes these soldiers had committed in their country against their own people. I imagined that they were in DC asking for funding from the US govt. Their delegation had several high ranking officers whose uniforms displayed several rows of colors indicating their various heroic deeds and honors. In the rear of the column were the most decorated soldiers and their attention was occupied by a fast talking CIA-looking fellow in a suit. As I sat on the steps one of the delegation's younger lieutenants who was walking along their flank looked right at me and barked at me in Spanish to stand up and show respect. He looked at me and appeared to realize that he wasn't in El Salvador as he kept on walking. In my own country I was ordered to stand up and respect military officers of a foreign land whose crimes were unknown to me but I imagined in their country I could have been kicked or arrested for sitting instead of standing.
If NFL players want to sit or kneel they have a right to do so in the USA.
I am opposed to anyone that would compel another to stand or bow or kneel to the king. We overthrew that fellow back in the 1700's.
3
I wholly reject Trump's comments but I reject yours too. They are every bit as rousing. You cannot fight anger with anger nor intolerance with intolerance. Don't you have anything to say that would bring our country together?
2
Charles, great column. The truth is, black people have served our country with honor as soldiers in every war this country has ever fought. They worked their rear ends off in munitions factories, armories, shipyards, etc. during WWII-- glad for better jobs at long last, true-- but, also grateful to be part of the common good. Black people today work in every fire & police department, school and library-- serving we the people along side their colleagues of every hue. I do not think black people need to prove their patriotism to ANYONE, least of all to those white people who do not understand that an important part of our nation's heritage is the right to protest. Nor do they need to prove it to a president who is so ignorant of our history that he doesn't recognize the bravery of those who have engaged in civil disobedience-- throughout our history and into the present.
1
Another day and another distraction for Donald J. Trump. I wish his supporters would demand that he make public his tax returns. He has time to mess with the NFL, play golf, ignore the situation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, not pursue TrumpCare (as he promised while campaigning).
His "believe me's" call for an act of faith and trust from a serial liar. What sane person would believe this man?
1
We need to be reminded of "stuff" we wish would just go away. Incarceration rates for minorities and non-minorities are a stark, enduring and embarrassing statistic that cannot be denied in our democracy. Candidates ran on the promise initiate improvements in the way the justice system treats minorities. They promised a downward trend in this imbalance over time. That would be the measure. It's not happening. It has faded from the radar screen.We are not witnessing a drop in percentage of minorities being sent to prison. THIS is what is being protested. Inaction, suppression of this awful reality. No one seems to be paying attention to this an issue any more, just the opposite. So -- take a knee. People - wake up! This is a stain on our democracy - these awful practices and results. They are reported again and again with no change. We don't like to admit it's true, but it is. We need someone to hold up the mirror, to get our attention, to remind us. After denigration by POTUS, the NFL is "joining arms" to remind us. Fans could also join arms as is suggested by Aaron Rogers. Joining arms rather than taking a knee could be the growing symbol we need to jar us into reality, not just make us feel good. Remember what we are joining arms about. It is not to disrespect the flag. It is to honor what it symbolizes, what it stands for - liberty and justice for all. For all.
2
I hope they're patriotic enough to vote in larger numbers instead of sitting it out like this last election, one that has ended up costing them dearly.
When the majority of white Americans begin to care as much about all Americans as much as they appear to care about its symbols, then perhaps we can begin to have a civilized conversation about all of the problems facing us.
Meanwhile, thank you Mr. Blow, for this brave and truthful piece. It is one of your finest to date !
2
I can't add anything other than heartfelt gratitude and deep appreciation. Thank you Charles Blow for telling it like it is. The struggle continues.
2
The fact that many players were angered by Trump's intemperate remarks and knelt as a consequence, exemplifies the shallowness of this protest. Should everyone who has a complaint, real or imagined, with how the country operates, past or present, feel justified to kneel now in protest? Is that an act that engenders good will and unification?
The more people who do it, the more unified we will be.
Why not join in?
2
Structural racism is knit deeply into every aspect of American life. I am hoping the black players in the NFL, NBA, MLB and other highly profitable professional sports venues will engage in a boycott, or players' strike if you prefer, that will bring an economic impact on the owners, advertisers, news media, sports fans, and related businesses that is at least at tiny bit commensurate with the economic impacts of America's structural racism.
1
America's obsession with war and the military is on full display when the first—and, for the most part, only—thing these people can come up with that the flag represents is death and destruction from wars. Doesn't America represent anything positive? Thanks to Blow for pointing out that the flag also represents a long history of death and suffering for black Americans that is still going on. It is absurd that we are supposed to conveniently forget all of the disrespect aimed at the PotUS that originated from the right wing over the last eight years. Also, NFL players can choose not to stand 'at their job.'
1
Charles Blow's words are distressing. Even though we have known these things for years, they never seem to penetrate the souls of white men sufficiently to make a them change.
At the end of "Notes of a Native Son," James Baldwin wrote, "This world is white no longer, and it will never be white again." Indeed, even he might never have been able to understand the current rage of the white man.
2
Reversing Blow's chronological approach, we find that the troops the rituals are to show support for are heavily black & Hispanic. Our all-volunteer military is filled very disproportionately with minority and poor soldiers. Yet those patriotic Americans and their families face the challenges of racism and institutional barriers every day at home.
Most red-hatted 'patriots' booing the loudest did not serve. They chose not to, a choice their social status allowed them. To yell about honoring the flag and not convict 'bad cops', to declare racism is over when jails are stuffed with black & Hispanic prisoners, to see colleges still mostly white 60 years after Brown v Board, that is the cowardice of the 'Summer Soldier & the Sunshine Patriot.
2
Black America lives a different life than White America. As a White American (an old white American), I might see a little police intimidation in my life; during traffic or traffic stops, or not following directions at the wrong time. Even if that happens, I most likely walk away with no ticket, no arrest, just a bad experience.
Blacks in America experience another reality. An incident can go badly wrong very quickly with the police. It happens over and over and it's a real problem.
The Star Spangled Banner and the Flag are symbols of our country. They are honored by almost everyone. Taking a knee during presentation of these symbols of America to highlight the fact that problems exist in this country does not dishonor the flag, nor the military, nor anyone's sacrifice. It is not the intent of the kneeling people to attack anything. They are putting a light on a dark practice in our country; something that needs to change so that we can truly all honor our country.
I served 4 years in the USMC. I was honorably discharged. I do not feel the protests on the fields of play denigrate my service in any way.
1
This article should be required reading in every American history class and by every Republican, specifically, Trump and Sessions, although Sessions is probably well aware of these facts, but still fancies himself superior to anyone who is not white, heterosexual Christian. As the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors, understanding the horrifying truths of how man can be inhumane towards man is essential for these atrocities to never happen again. Our president, instead of turning a blind eye and inflaming racial hatred, needs these critical history lessons more than anyone, not the bigoted ones passed down by his father that he is now modeling to our nation. As those who look at history square in the face, we know, you can never forget. Forgetting,, or ignoring, history is what will doom us all.
1
One can acknowledge that slavery was an abomination. One can also acknowledge that the path traveled by black people since has been hard, ofttimes cruel and unjust.
But not everything is about race, and I am not sure this is. Trump and the right were equally or more critical of predominantly white campus protesters and school administrators.
Some of Blow's stats, however, are surprising--and not in the intended way.
I was surprised to learn that under 35% of convicts executed over the last 40 years were black. As a consumer of MSM, I expected the number to be much higher--perhaps a significant majority. For some years now, black people, have committed over 50% of homicides. This would suggest that blacks are underrepresented on death row, even though constituting only 13% of the population. An analogy would be that men are more than 90% of the executed--is this gender bias? Of course not. Women commit fewer violent crimes and, not surprisingly, juries are not as hard on, say, murdering an abusive spouse as they are on robbing a fast food restaurant and shooting teenage workers.
Similarly, the NFL players may be mistaken in the narrative they protest. If blacks are only 25% of those shot and only 35% of those shot who were unarmed, they may be underrepresented in these groups. Even the NYT's Upshot acknowledged that black participation in violent crime may be the more relevant metric here than mere population. Further, police shootings fell over the last 25 years.
2
Raising their tax rates, gutting their health care, removing their environmental protections...I dream of the day when those who elected him realize they've put a Trojan Horse in the White House, that every one of his proposals actually makes the lives of the common people WORSE, not better. It's incomprehensible that over 80% of Republicans approve of the job he's doing. I read most of their bombastic and naïve comments online with sadness; not even of the divide he's widening, but how they're being conned. One has to hope they'll wake up to it one day, but I'm not holding my breath
1
The thing about America of which I, as a privileged white male, am most proud is precisely the country's history of protest, the insistence by dedicated and often less fortunate citizens that America can and must be better. Mindlessly saluting the flag and mouthing praises of our supposedly exceptional nation do nothing to improve lives or our country's standing abroad. When politicians like Donald Trump criticize legitimate protest, they're motivated not by patriotism but a desire to change the subject.
1
Powerful! Op-Ed that should be required reading for all. It made me cringe and physically ill to read how human beings could be so cruel and heartless to another.
1
America was upset with college protesters that disrespected the flag during the Vietnam War, of which the vast majority were white kids, so this isn't a "black" issue, as you point out. It's simply an issue of respecting the flag of the country that gives its people the freedom to discuss their issues. Politicizing the NFL or any other sport does not get any point across. It only breeds acrimony and controversy.
According David Brion Davis it is not clear why slave population was able to grow in Maryland and Virginia. It is clear that once the slave trade ended in 1804 these two states had a very valuable commodity to sell to the states that would become part of the deep South.
If Democrats won't pledge allegiance to their own nation, to what do they pledge allegiance, if anything? Themselves as individuals? Perhaps, although many have a collectivist mindset. Most likely, it is to their political party, and to whatever subgroups they are part of (based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc). Clearly they feel little in common with their compatriots of other political views, who happen to share the same nation. Many would have the rest of us dead, or at least cowed into silence and apathy. We are tired of Democrats making everything political. It was a Democrat who first dragged politics into football. The sport can wither away for all I care, if it is becoming another forum for Democrat politics. They've already spoiled it, just like everything else they get their clutches on.
The claim that the issue isn't race but patriotism bears out, IMO, the adage that patriotism is the last resort of the scoundrel.
The very house that Trump now lives in was built by the labor and blood of black men who had no choice, who when they kneeled it was not to protest but because they were made to do so.
1
Why does it take foreigners to understand what Donald Trump’s outburst in Alabama was really about?
The commentary in Germany's Der Spiegel got it right: “Donald Trump’s Sleight of Hand.” Whenever the going gets rough, Trump makes some outrageous statement and succeeds in changing the subject. Having a bad day over Obamacare? No problem! Give his potty mouth free reign and off we go in hot pursuit of the latest trivial episode, aided and abetted by a malleable media that is eternally grateful to have a foul-mouthed president whose unpredictability is a constant, renewable source of fodder.
Imagine where they’d be if Trump was simply a repetitive bore. It might be possible to pay sustained attention to some of the ills that the players seek, with great dignity, to highlight, including the proper role of a (yes!) civilian police force in a democratic society.
This is indeed the art of the con. Badmouthing those who “disrespect” the flag hasn’t been a newsworthy subject since campus flag burning in the 1970s.
2
Everyone has a right in this country to protest. You may not be protected or immune from the consequences of your decision but there is no mandate to obey and worship the flag. Only dictators, despots, and their blind followers believe otherwise.
3
Two things to say.
Trump is the death knell of our decency, honor, democracy, values and ideals, perhaps of our union. He signals that the disease that has long threatened our nation, in restraint over the last 70 years, has been released again and is on the rise; puss- filled tumors are growing, fed and nourished by Trump. He is the rampant bacterial infection sickening our nation.
Kneeling during the national anthem is patriotic. It is not disrespectful to our flag, our military, our fallen defenders. It is a call to consciousness, a call to renew our dedication to our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Those are not simply old documents we learned of in school. They represent our values and ideals, our belief in the innate equality of all men and women, our social contract with a government with its first responsibility to keep us safe.
We have not lived up to our ideals, we have not kept our values, we have elected governments to suppress non-white minorities and advantage whites, we have empowered our governments to use force against non-white minorities.
Kneeling during the national anthem is a call to live up to our ideals. It is patriotic because it reminds us of the values expressed by our Founding Fathers.
Time for all patriots to kneel during the national anthem and to stand only when we have renewed our efforts to honor our ideals and values, not in words, but in deeds.
Our first deed on this renewed path of honor is to rid the nation of Trump.
3
I couldn't have said it better myself. I think it's time for a nationwide kneeling to honor (not disrespect) the constitution and it's declaration. May God help us.
1
Finally, an article that makes it painfully clear that the experience of Black people in America has been fundamentally and existentially different. Well done Mr Blow. Further, it is the height of hypocrisy for the those who have clearly committed treason against our country (Trump, his advisors and family members) by collaborating with an avowed enemy to attack others for their lack of patriotism. While I hold little hope, I pray for the day when Trump and his entire corrupt family are brought before the court of American justice.
1
It was painful to watch a guest on CNN Don Lemon's show last night snicker at another guest who was trying to explain why the NFL players are kneeling. His patronizing laughter was insulting. This nation's original sin is rotting our core. We have 400 years of resistance to white privilege once again in broad daylight.
Watching this in conjunction with PBS' The Vietnam War series is excruciating.
4
This is yet another extremely cogent argument for Reparations, let alone being able to partake in all of the freedoms granted by the Constitution. This is also excluding Native Americans, which is a whole other category and discussion.
When any African American, woman or minority (of some privilege and success) stands up for equality ( or just to raise an issue of oppression ), then the almost dependable reaction by those of white privilege retort with ''those'' people are successful, and they should just sit down and shut up. ( because they partook in the white man's system and took away some of that success , as if it was ''granted'' to them from up high )
The thing is that it does not matter how much success one has, but just that they are a living human being ~ just like us all. They are born with the same rights that cannot be taken away for any reason ( even by law ) and will continue to assert them as they see fit.
Get used to it.
3
Ok, I agree with everything you said but how can this country move forward? To me, clearly this protest is not working. Sure, we can argue that the protest itself validates the American idea. But the reality is still reality. Racial tention is reaching to the boiling point. Violance against blacks will only increase. Is this really what you want?! Seriously, this "melting pot thing" is against human nature and it is merely a noble but unrealistic concept.
These are my suggestions. (1) Give two states and 1/5 of national wealth to African Americans so they can have a brand new start as a new nation. African Americans can make the choice either to stay or to move on. (White) America needs to find peace and it needs to pay for their past crimes against humanity. This will be once for all and we can all move forward afterwards. Again, if America is a company, there is only one outcome/solution if an employee is unwilling to work with the company (no matter what the reason is). (2) Learn the lessons. Bring in free and cheaper labors is actually more costly in the long run. Of course the current business owners won't pay for the true price. In fact, we should all thank China for reducing the influx of low-skilled immigrants. Seriously, go check who are really working in the new manufacturing companies? Based on the published photos (by NYT), many of them are immigrants. This will only increase the demand of low-skilled immigrants.
How can people be so superficial and unsophisticat
Free speech is an American value and should be supported by everyone even when you disagree with that speech; in fact, all the more so when you disagree, as it is the controversial speech that needs protection not the platitudes. Whether it's black NFL athletes or Milo Yiannopoulos at Berkeley - I support free speech.
1
The players are kneeling because they're praying for their country to improve its behavior.
2
See The American Slave Coast by Ned Sublette for a full discussion of the slave breeding industry in America. If the movement to remove the monuments to the men who romanticized slavery spurs us to fully explore our history, then they will have served a purpose never imagined by those who erected those monuments.
1
The American flag led the charge in the Civil war, the war where more Americans died than any other, and fought basically over freeing the black man. It deserves the respect of all races. It deserves the respect because it represents the ideals of the country, not the failures to measure up to those ideals. Those failures are the result of the people, not the ideals.
1
Robert Jensen in his book, “The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism, and White Privilege,” in referring to the iconic W.E.B DuBois writes, “W.E.B DuBois in the opening of 1903 classic, “Souls of Black Folk,” wrote that the real question whites wanted to ask him, but were afraid to, was: How does it feel to be a problem?”
Jensen states, “DuBois was identifying a burden that Blacks carried—being seen by the dominant society not as people but as a problem people, as a people who posed a problem for the rest of society. DuBois was right to identify “the color line” as the problem of the twentieth century. Now, in the twenty-first century, it is time for whites to self-consciously reverse the direction of that questions at the heart of color. It’s time for white people to fully acknowledge that in the racial arena, we are the problem. We have to ask ourselves: How does it fell to be the problem….Whiteness is the problem.”
“…if one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected—those, precisely, who need the law’s protection the most!—and listens to their testimony. Ask any Mexican, any Black man—ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know, not whether or not the country is just, but whether or not it has any love for justice, or any concept of it.” James Baldwin
3
Focusing on totems like the flag and the national anthem is a distraction. Accepting the notion that sports venues are sites of meaningful honorable brave patriotism is ludicrous.
American history is drenched with the blood, sweat and tears of the black enslaved and separate and unequal Africans. American air, land and water is indelibly drenched with the inhumane hypocritical denial of the divine natural equal certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to Africans in America.
The President of the United States takes a U.S. Constitution required solemn sworn oath "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States".
There is no Presidential obligation to any iconic symbols like the flag nor the national anthem nor the paper on which the Constitution is written. There is no blood shed defending the Constitution on any football or baseball fields or basketball courts while singing the national anthem at any entertaining private or public for profit sporting event.
4
This article is a great reminder of what took place in our country over many years. I served in the Marine's and as kid was reminded by a veteran that lost both legs in World War II than many blacks suffered just like him and many lost their lives. The reason this stuck with me is he ran a boat rental store and he rented to blacks while the one I worked for would not rent to blacks. As a kid I had to turn away blacks by saying they were all reserved. That shame has stuck with me for many years. I am willing to bet Trump has no shame for what he and his father did in discriminating against minorities. The NFL players are the real patriots by standing up for injustice while the person that avoided the draft wraps himself in the flag. Don't forget some else had to go because of his bone spurs. Had he gone instead of John McCain and been captured after being shot down by a Russian SAM I am willing to bet he would have been the first captive released. Based on how he has treated his fellow human beings during his entire life you all know why he would have been released first. Again thanks for this history lesson that far to many will not read. I will do my part to sharing the article.
1
Chuck, as a former NFL player and current minister asked Mr Lee last night, "now that you have the mic, what are you going to do about it"? We're all aware of our history, the good and the bad but to dwell on it only hurts the cause. Then you go on to write about executions and shootings by police of AA but you FAIL to share the statistic that is most relevant, the % of crimes conducted by AA. If what you cite was in line w/the pop. then you have a point, but when the majority of crime is done by person of color, then the justice will be disproportionate to the pop. As the Rev asked last night, "what are you going to do about it". Don't take the easy path, the path of the victim.
You and the Dems need a new path, kneeling during the anthem (btw, only 12% of the players knelt last week) is losing ground, and losing fast.
As a daughter of immigrants, I cannot take a knee to the flag because of what my parents sacrificed to be here. But if my ancestors were slaves, then I would take a knee. Blacks and Native Americans sacrificed the most before there were American soldiers who died in a war.
Where were these patriots defending Trump on his stance of these NF players when he was disparaging John McCain for being a POW? I have no doubt that we are replaying the history of Dr. Martin Luther King when he took a knee and people called him unpatriotic. This is civil disobedience at its core! People do not like it because it is a nagging discomfort that we do not want to ingest.
Without Black Americans, we do not have American history. The great history of this country is owed to the struggles of Black America. So when any Black American kneels in front of the flag - then we need to listen.
1
Thanks again, Mr Blow, for your insightful, thoughtful presentation of the facts.
The right to protest, to "take a knee" during the National Anthem, is an
Inherent right of every citizen, protected under the right of free speech.
Unless, unless, a black citizen does this under this administration. The
Divider in chief, Trump, has sought to denigrate, demean, marginalize
All things non-white which does not conform to a white privileged male
Mold.
He has done more to divide this country than any one before him.
I do not know what it feels like to be Black, as I am a Caucasian who is
Watching this affront to Black citizens. Mr. Trump, you are the
Instigator of hatred and prejudice to everything and everyone non-white.
I applaud Mr. Blow for opening the door on our past history, and
Giving us a snapshot of the suffering and pain of some of our citizens.
As I seek to understand, why now, why this issue, two things stand
Out. First, this is an assault on Black athletes who are compelled
To "explain" why they took such a stand. And yes, it has nothing to
Do with disrespecting the flag or our country and everything to do with
Pride, dignity and their voices calling out for respect.
Secondly, the showman Trump has created a diversion, a distraction,
To draw attention away from his own failing administration. While our
Citizens in Puerto Rico scream out for assistance and help, he instead
Has chosen to focus solely on this issue.
Shame on you, Donald Trump.
1
This is yet another extremely cogent argument for Reparations, let alone being able to partake in all of the freedoms granted by the Constitution. This is also excluding Native Americans, which is a whole other category and discussion.
When any African American, woman or minority (of some privilege and success) stands up for equality ( or just to raise an issue of oppression ), then the almost dependable reaction by those of white privilege retort with ''those'' people are successful, and they should just sit down and shut up. ( because they partook in the white man's system and took away some of that success , as if it was ''granted'' to them from up high )
The thing is that it does not matter how much success one has, but just that they are a living human being ~ just like us all. They are born with the same rights that cannot be taken away for any reason ( even by law ) and will continue to assert them as they see fit.
Get used to it.
3
We've been watching Ken Burns's Vietnam series. Even though we lived through those difficult times, revisiting the senseless violence and cruelty our country was a party to is horrifying. And it is yet another example of the flag being draped in blood. Like all the other wars, blacks served, were maimed and killed and came home to the same old discrimination and mistreatment.
1
Stark truths we whites need to be reminded of more often. I still wish we could have had a more in depth, prolonged, frank conversation on race while Obama was still in office. Seems like an opportunity missed. But perhaps the hidden "blessing" of DJT is a reawakening.
1
Not only the blood of Africans, but also the blood of those people who were indigenous to North America (in fact, for them it was worse). That history was hidden from all of us. Our country was not founded on the values of the powers to be claim, it was founded on values of white supremacy, clear and simple. White supremacy is our legacy, which is why it is so difficult to eliminate it.
1
Trump’s patriotism is false just as he is a false patriot. While Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands pleaded for help, this “patriot” spent the weekend criticizing the NFL for disrespecting the flag and the national anthem. If these athletes who knelt were white, I doubt there would have been such a furor over this and there would not have been the call to fire them. It is another example of Trump’s inherent racism and should be recognized as such. My only hope is that we can survive this madness.
1
After functioning behind the mentality of slavery for over 400 years, a few decades is not going to eliminate that. This definition of patriotism still seems to be based on how Whites view it, since they seem to have the loudest voices about the protests. Funny how we haven't heard that same outrage from them behind what the protests are about. But don't forget about how in the past, when Blacks had issues that they brought up, one response was to "get an education". That response has given Blacks the knowledge and critical thinking that's now applied to America's history. There may be a lot of denial from others but Blacks don't have any misconceptions about their history in this country, especially when a lot of the recent history is recorded on video. When the problem was too many Blacks on welfare some went out and got jobs, as society's complaints seemed to suggest. Now all of a sudden having a job is a "privilege"! We see where hypocrisy has brought this nation to, with President Trump being the role model for hypocrisy, especially when it comes to "respect". If you don't like Black people just say so, and stop fronting, and creating hysteria by playing on people's programmed emotions. And I say "programmed" because a lot of people seem to forget that it was elementary and high school, the education system, that made you, your parents, etc. stand for the anthem and told you that was patriotism. You are responding with PROGRAMMED PATRIOTISM.
1
I sympathize with Charles Blow when he says that the black community has not been treated well in the United States. Even after the end of slavery ended in 1965, the blacks have been unfairly targeted by the police and the government. So many blacks, especially the youth, have been the receiving end of the police brutality.
In spite of a strong case made out by Blow in defense of the black, I would not endorse the act of Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling, when the national anthem was being played, as a mark of protest against the police brutality, especially against the minorities. His and other NFL players have to be condemned in the strongest words. No matter what one's grievance against the police or the government may be, one does not have a right to insult the national anthem or the Flag, as such acts are not only disgraceful but amount to treason. Moreover, what message are we sending to the children of the country? There are other ways of protesting or airing one's grievances, but the choice of the Super Bowl quarterback was not a wise and ideal one.
I'm a great admirer of Charles writings, but after reading this Op-ed, one gets the feeling that the disgraceful act of the NFL player has his tacit approval.
1
Turning your back to the flag during the national anthem to me would be a sign of disrespect. But going down on one knee, (like we do in church in front of a crucifix) during the anthem actually seems like a quiet, respectful way to bring attention to the growing national issue of police brutality and racial injustice. But what does an old white republican lady like me know?
1
The players who have refused to stand during the National Anthem have made it quite clear that their purpose has been to protest police treatment of black people. Many on the political right assign other motives to the player's actions and accuse them of disrespecting our country. Some even label them traitors. I only wish those people would read this column by Charles Blow. Most of us have little insight into the history of those involved in the slave trade, and this column is important in giving us an overview of that sad and horrific chapter in American history. Thank you Mr. Blow
2
Wait Charles, so you are saying it IS about the flag and the anthem then? Many people have been saying it is not about those things.
When a people start to perceive that their land is in the hands of an Empire, foreign or domestic, political symbols, songs, and flags are viewed differently:
"To make the songs easier to sing, those writing political songs frequently wrote new words to old tunes. For example, the tune of “God Save the King,” the English National Anthem, is the same melody used in “America,” (which later, was re-written again as “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”). Though one is about America and the other England, the first verses of each song are very similar in tone. But the next three verses differ markedly from one another. The English version asks God to help the king control his enemies (“Confound there politics, frustrate their knavish tricks”) while the American version blesses “the commonwealth,” “Great Washington,” and acclaims the independent “free states.”
1
Mr. Blow and President Trump are both guilty of throwing rhetorical bombs that only divide the nation more. No one disputes the barbarism of slavery or the complicity of this country. But the fact remains, we cannot change the past; only make the future better. The plight of the black community and now the lower middle class whites can be traced to the ability of liberalism - which Mr. Blow espouses - to destroy the family structure, religion and traditional morality. Mr. Blow and his allies have been quite effective at painting those who point this out as troglodytes and haters, thus the issue is rarely discussed. But until two parent families care for their children, no amount of money, protests or Mr. Blow's diatribes will change a thing. In fact, it will only get worse as the children of single-parent households realize that it is almost impossible to compete with those from two-parent households.
2
This is yet another extremely cogent argument for Reparations, let alone being able to partake in all of the freedoms granted by the Constitution. This is also excluding Native Americans, which is a whole other category and discussion.
When any African American, woman or minority (of some privilege and success) stands up for equality ( or just to raise an issue of oppression ), then the almost dependable reaction by those of white privilege retort with ''those'' people are successful, and they should just sit down and shut up. ( because they partook in the white man's system and took away some of that success , as if it was ''granted'' to them from up high )
The thing is that it does not matter how much success one has, but just that they are a living human being ~ just like us all. They are born with the same rights that cannot be taken away for any reason ( even by law ) and will continue to assert them as they see fit.
Get used to it.
2
You bring up and remind us of a horrifying history.
But the injustices to blacks have continued for so long, are so current, that people who say, "It was a long time ago" have no knowledge of history.
I'm 64 and remember traveling through the South on spring break from college in Michigan to Florida, taking back roads to eat the achingly sweet and cliched Georgia peaches, and coming on gas stations that still had "white" and "colored" bathrooms. and using the "wrong" one on purpose which almost cost us our lives.
That's in my adult lifetime. We are not talking ancient history.
Mad? I'd be mad. I am mad. As so should we all.
3
Why are black people always required to justify their right to protest? Blows column was very good but why isn't the history of slavery taught like the history of the founding of the country. We designate one month a year where we dare to talk about Black History like Black History is an addendum American History. Most schools teach Black History as an elective and not a required subject. Black History in America is American History and should be taught as such. Many Americans think if we avoid talking about racism it doesn't exist and the ones demonstrating against racism are just agitators. Many look at the NFL players as ungrateful for all that have given to them and ungrateful to the sacrifices made by other for them. Pat Moynihan wrote many years ago about the Two Americas one black and one white. Today his words rang so true neither one understanding the other one.We need to cut the teaching of Black History and American History as something separate. America's wealth and position in the world was built on hundreds of years of free labor. For us to keep pretending everyone in America are treated the same today is just not true.
2
All the talk about the glorious FLAG ...It brings to mind the GOD of the Old Testament. They are cousins I guess, if not brothers...or twins...
Oh just step. Yes, there is a long and sordid history. A lot of groups have difficult history and feel aggrieved for this or that. But that doesn't make it right to denigrate the flag, and by extension the country and the military who defend it, in the 21st century. And it certainly doesn't make it right to do so in the workplace, where paying customers tune in to see a product, not some player disrespecting his country. I'm satisfied that Kaepernick has found no NFL team to hire him, that he's untouchable. But I condemn the NFL for allowing this nonsense to occur in their workplace where they have every right to control their product. Blow, we get that you're ambivalent about your own country. Frankly I don't care. I just don't want it impinging on my entertainment or I'll frankly tune to something else.
There are two things I don't understand: how can kneeling be disrespectful AND where would it be okay to protest (other than where no one can see you).
1
Thank you for exposing the truth.
1
Here, Mr. Blow, you're tilting at Sojourner Truth's windmill. The psychological imperative that European-Americans conceptualize African-Americans as subhuman breeds a species of willful ignorance that is impervious to historical facts. For European-Americans the curse of Ham is such a powerful exculpatory catchall that it holds sway even in the Ids of those European-American whose conscious efforts to combat it are heroic.
One of its more telling manifestations is the astonishment of articulatness. This is an inescapable observation all expressively gifted African-Americans are confronted with no matter how lofty the European-American circles they travel in. The question it begs is why is there such astonishment, not simple surprise, nor even amazement, but astonishment that I'm articulate. After all, to paraphrase Sojourner Truth, ain't I human?
1
As a white man who grew up mainly in NYC, I did not experience racial hatred directed toward me. People can be rather tribal in their views and sympathies. My town, my school, my people. I can remember an acquaintance telling that blacks were inferior to "us", "just look at them." I did not agree with him then and kept my distance from then on.
When people have these tribal blinders they do not see the others as fellow citizens, because they are not a part of their tribe. Black Americans are not making this stuff up. They are held to a different standard than whites. Philandro Castile was traffic stopped 49 times, 49 times! In my 58 years I have been stopped about 12 times. The Black Lives Matter organization is not saying white lives do not matter. It is implied that since Black Americans experience racism regularly they feel that their lives do not matter, hence the name.
We must come together as a nation. The 14th amendment corrected the grave mistake of our great founders. I see Black Americans making economic strides all around. When all of us are being treated equally under the law, we will have peace and justice for all. Martin Luther King Jr was right, peaceful protest is the best most effective way. What method are we forcing people into if we do not allow peaceful protest? Kaepernick risked his livelihood to make this protest and has suffered the consequences. The NFL owners should re-hire him as soon as possible.
169
Neither the American Revolution nor the American Civil War were "peaceful protests".
Prison preserves African enslavement and involuntary servitude.
No NFL field is an American battlefield.
2
Walmart just supports China and poverty wages for its poor employees.
1
As a 61 y.o. white male who reads you weekly, I want to thank you for this timely review of American history .
2
And it's drenched in the blood of hundreds of thousands of those who died
in order to free your ancestors in bondage. And it flies over the most racially diverse least racist nation on the planet. My contempt for those who actively disrespect it is immense. I served my nation in the army and community as a correctional officer and I agree with the right to protest as stated in the first amendment. As a graduate of the 8th grade I understood it only applied to government force being used as a reprisal and not private or public censor. And by the time I graduated college I understood that progressives lie about everything in order to confuse actual understanding of those things.
The president, and he is the legal duly elected president, has every right to express an opinion as to what the NFL should do about whining millionaires complain about inequality and racism on their employers and customers time and dime so long as he does not use the power of the IRS, the national intelligence apparatus, or the justice department to enforce his personal political agenda. But you Mr. Blow already knew all this.
4
This country includes many whose origin here was not under the "flag", and who owe nothing to that flag. Think most Native American tribes, and every African slave and their descendants. More innocents have died because of the flag than in defense of the flag. The Civil War was about preserving the (wealth of the) union, and freed the slaves so their migratory labor could benefit the industrializing North much like their localized labor profited the agricultural South. To truly free the slaves would mean restoring what slavery stripped from them and their heirs, or its equivalence, as much as possible. Think human identity, homeland, natural culture, lost families, justice, reparations, etc. Every slave life was a crime against humanity, and included every cruelty imaginable, and every slave death was state murder. All under the flag. Under that flag an entire people were stripped of their humanity for generations, while creating wealth for this nation for generations. Every slave life under the flag deserves more honor than any free born soldier that ever served. Who’s honoring these forgotten Americans before your sporting events? Some Americans just don’t owe the flag honor, it’s the flag that owes them honor. Some of their children you may see on one knee before your entertainment begins. Instead of rushing to judgement, we should rush to honor the sons and daughters of America’s greatest Americans by hearing their cry for justice as our conscience.
1
We need to stop saying the POTUS is "playing to his base". This is who Trump really is, a racist. Plain and simple. He always was, and always will be.
4
It seems as though Trump and his supporters expect black players to stand during the anthem because they should be grateful. Grateful to be allowed to live in America as free men. Grateful that slavery was abolished. Grateful to not be shot by the police. Grateful that they are allowed to play professional football and risk brain damage to entertain the masses. Grateful to white people, of course. That is the underlying scream of the Trump base. *Shudders*
2
How about grateful for a job that pays more in a season that most people make in a lifetime?
1
You and many other Blacks are ambivalent about showing respect to the symbols of this nation. We get it. What you don't get is that patriotic Americans become highly offended when you equate patriotism with racism. You are wrong about this and you do this nation and Blacks no service when you insist on viewing every aspect of America, its history and its people through the fractured lens of racialism.
5
Please quote the passage in which Mr. Blow equated patriotism with racism.
2
For many Black Americans, patriotism and racism are firmly intertwined. Did you not read the column.
See this is why Black Americans need to forget about trying to educate white people about our pain.
1
White Americans equated patriotism with racism centuries before black Americans ever did.
3
Mr Blow makes the heart felt case for this protest in the context of American history. Thank you.It is fascinating to watch others insist that they know a better ? less disturbing - way to protest. Perhaps they should do so. The need is great.
It is predictable that others impugn the patriotism of the protestors. But what is more patriotic than making a claim to the freedoms the flag represents, for all Americans ? Of course that is the issue. Far easier to proclaim the protestor as un-American than to consider their experience as Americans.
A discussion of the militarism that the current anthem displays have come to represent would distract from Mr Blow's important points but I include this link for those who would like a little history
https://www.axios.com/why-is-the-national-anthem-played-before-sporting-...
1
Thank you, Mr. Charles Blow for this excellent piece of writing and fact filled article. This article should be posted on every NFL bulletin board.
1
When speaking about cop shootings of Blacks, Charles once again -- for all of his "scholarly" research -- omits the fact that the Violent Crime rate for Blacks is higher than any other group. The murder rate for Blacks is over 7x that of non-hispanic whites. That in and of itself explains any difference in the rates of cops shooting blacks vs whites. Cops are much more likely to encounter == and have aggressive encounters -- with violent criminals than regular citizens.
CB also omits that Blacks account for nearly half the killings of cops.
My takeaway -- get the violent crime rate down for Blacks and issues with cops will magically disappear.
And yes slavery and Jim Crow were horrible. Who though, captured the slaves? It was African Blacks who preyed on other tribes.
Yes, the story of how Blacks came to the US is not pretty. But bringing up the horrors of the slave trade to make political points today is irrelevant.
3
Who cares if other Africans sold them? It was Americans who bought them. You know why violence is more common among African-Americans? Because institutional racism, at times even codified, has kept them poor and on the margins of society. You have cause and effect backwards.
2
Charles demonstrates why there is no solution for this dilemma. Nothing that can be done will satisfy a vague and subjective demand of retribution. Initiatives in the past - like the so-called "War on Poverty". - have cost trillions of dollars and have apparently failed. Increased police presence in high-crime areas (yes, mostly populated by African Americans) result in more confrontations with law enforcement, leading to more resentment of the police presence. As a result, black-on-crime continues to grow at a disproportionate rate. Electing a black President didn't seem to move the needle on race relations. And make no mistake, Obama was elected by white voters, mainly because he was black.
After 70 years of efforts, we seem to be mired in the same place we were in before the Civil Rights Act. I've come to the conclusion that there is no realistic solution, so why keep trying? More and more people are throwing up their hands and retreating into ambivalence. Especially when we keep getting lectured by Blow and his ilk, despite everything we've done to try and solve the problem. Good luck, America...I'm moving to Costa Rica when I retire.
28
Actually the evidence shows that racism caused Obama to have smaller margins of victory than he would have had.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/can-google-predict-the-impa...
2
Ray,
I would start on working to be fluent in Spanish as Costa Rica demands that all ex-pats submerse themselves into the language and culture of the country.
1
Excellent move. I find it amazing that anyone can so easily dismiss 400 years of being treated like objects and animals followed by a legal redefinition of status, the Civil Rights act, followed by the realization that bigotry is so deeply imbedded in american society. Redlining. The war on drugs. The first acknowledgment of Trump in the news was that he was successfully prosecuted in 1973 for segregating his New York properties.
2
Trump most assuredly is playing the race card for his base -- particularly because he wants a distraction from the Russian investigation, which is closing in on him fast. He is the worst of the worst.
1
Mr. Blow you are wasting your energies. Trump supporters don't care about why these black men are protesting, they just like using any excuse to insult and belittle black people - this week it's because they are not standing for the flag, next week it will be something else. Meanwhile - what exactly has Trump done to affirmatively to advance the so-called "Trump agenda" that his supporters presumably put him in office to do? That would be nothing
1
Glad to see Blow pick it up a bit in writing style, content delivery and considered opinion. Good article.
1
Mr Blow has once again schooled me about things every American should know. The Black experience, by the numbers, is astounding. We are who we are, as Americans, because of that horrific experience.
djt is running a Whitehouse that is not the folly that I originally believed it to be. he is stoking a machine designed to reflux the fear and anger within his likeminded supporters.
I say hit them where it hurts.
All athletes of conscience should take a knee.
A Sunday Without Athletes of Color.
1
This is a magnificent article by Charles M Blow.
We've got a deep problem with Racial Discrimination in our country. Its roots are long and tenacious.
We have a problem with denial.
We have a problem with White Supremacy .
We have a Problem with a president who is a White Supremacist.
Now we are finally starting to admit we have a problem.
Thank You to Charles M Blow for taking our shame out of its terrible closet and hanging it like a flag drenched in blood for all to see.
If we turn away we are cowards.
Americans need to Stop being cowards .And to start taking a Knee for an end to Racist Inequality and An End To Police Killings Of Unarmed Black Men and Woman.
This protest is long over due. We can not turn away.
Please Mr Blow: keep the light shining bright.
To the Equality that awaits us: the ship isn't leaving till everybody is safely and respectfully on board.
No Haters Allowed.
12
Please research laws in effect in the US today, in 2017 that encourage or even permit discrimination against African Americans in ANY facet of life. It is ILLEGAL to exclude African Americans from housing, employment, educational opportunities, and health care. Affirmative Action, which actually ADVANTAGES African Americans, has been in place for about 50 years, has it not? There are several African American television networks, the NFL players make about 10 times more money than the average working class person, and probably so does Mr. Blow. So please tell me what "inequality" you are talking about.
I think what the president is saying is have a modicum of respect for the country you live in that affords you the freedom to think, act, work, play as you feel.
Maybe they should try Russia or North Korea or China and see how far their antics and childishness gets there, my suspicion is that they'd be on the first plane back kissing American soil.
It's easy to complain and be against everything all the time, some of these protesters never seem to be happy about anything, if that's the case, no one is stopping them from leaving and trying another country.
I think many of us are just tired of seeing the disrespect to our country, and more so, the constant complaining of our grown up American citizens, very, very tiresome.
6
Do you think that's the standard we should hold the USA to? North Korea?
That's a pretty low bar, and if you have to invoke it you are reaching all the way to the bottom.
1
Ridiculous, protest is as much American as apple pie and the flag itself, otherwise we would still be subjects of the British Crown. The protests of these athletes is both respectful and non-violent. Protests are supposed to make us feel uncomfortable, after all they ask us to examine our daily conventions and deepest held assumptions. Protests are never convenient either in time or space but they are definitely part and parcel of our national story. It is not the protestors who need to go live in Iran, North Korea or some other dictatorship but rather those like you who would deny the rest of us our freedoms.
2
Sorry, but that old "love it or leave it" mantra is starting to become tiresome. There's a third option, working for change, and there's nothing wrong with trying to make our country better.
Should the various people of the thirteen colonies have just shut up and been happy that they were part of the grand British Empire? No? Then why should minorities be happy that this wonderful country they now live in allows them to *mostly* go unharmed in their day-to-day lives?
In 1770, five unarmed people were killed in the 'Boston Massacre' by redcoats who were supposed to be protecting them. Far more than five unarmed people have been killed by police officers who've sworn to do the same. I suppose that the people of Massachusetts who disagreed with those killings should not have complained, or at least should have left the colony so that King George's loyalists would not have had to hear complaints about accountability.
1
I applaud you Mr. Blow, and I hope you are able to keep beating your drum! It is a mournful sound, but it rings pure.
5
I think this should be required reading for all Americans, sickening as the history is. It is hard to believe we can be telling people to "get over it." Jews should not get over the Holocaust, and Black Americans should not get over their history in the United States. It informs our beings, and needs to be totally unacceptable. Here is a "Never Again" that keeps on going with state violence, mass incarceration, and more, and honor to those brave enough to continue trying to expose it. A flag is a symbol; history is shared experience.
Thank you.
7
I support the protests and admire the players who could just pocket the money and enjoy their lifestyle but instead choose to take a stand (kneel) for sorely needed justice. I agree their actions make no statement at all on our military. That angle is only the creation of those who do not want to hear what the protest makes plain. I, a seventy-year-old white woman with a limited interest in professional sports, link arms with these kneeling athlete.s
4
We have never dealt with the legacy of slavery
in this country, hence the current political climate
where yet again institutionalized racism had reared
it's ugly head. The is only one " race" the human race
All the rest is a set of cultural biases with no
biological of factual basis. Just think, hating people
for having a higher amount of melanin in the skin.
It is beyond absurd. And yet many cling to this notion
and will never give it up: people like trump for instance.
The fact that he has filled his White House with like minded
people is very depressing. Even more so for my black
brother in law and his family.
2
New revelations that Russian trolls are exploiting racial divisions in this country via social media point to the role of Donald Trump as provocateur in chief. Trump launched this "controversy" in a speech in Alabama and Russian intelligence quickly colluded with his divisiveness to make Americans hate each other even more than before. This has been documented. As a Russian agent, Trump is operating primarily through Twitter to fracture our fragile social cohesion. The only way out is to fully face our racial history, seek to resolve our differences and make amends over the egregious historical abuse of black people. Then, we need to come to a sane solution over immigration and quit responding to the ravings of the Mad Hatter.
3
thank you sir once again, your articulation of America's sin is horrible to read. anyone that denies this history will tell you they also control their respiratory system.
what built our country was the enforced labor of the black people that were brought and bred here. as a white man i am always amazed at the ability Black America has putting up with the systemic obfuscation of their lives. a people collectively who demonstrate community without reservation or crowing cause they know they are alone in the eyes of most White americans.
4
Thank you Mr. Blow! And yesterday the DOJ had alawyer at the Second court of appeals argue that yes you can discriminate against LGBTQ persons. Really!~ Incredulous to be arguing for discrimination .I do not equate this with the black struggle but as a 69 year old gay man with a partner of 35 years I can relate a small amount. I am from the south and clearly remember the enforced seperateness. This return to this overt hate is mind boggling and coming from a President. The ignorance displayed is truly terrifying. Keep up the excellent work. Many thanks
2
Yes, Trump is fanning the flames of racism, is a racist himself and should be called such given that his business, personal and political history well documents it. But I also see hope and a chance for progress to emerge from this train wreck of a presidency. After being confronted in Charlottesville the white supremicist crowd scurried back into their holes and didn't show up for their promised power rallies. Who did show up? Thousands of outraged people all over the country of all races in impromptu public gatherings. Black people and other minorities are no longer left alone to fight for their civil rights. We should always bemoan the fact of racism, but more importantly let's take advantage of the moment and target specific action. For example how about some focus on The Fraternal Order of Police which endorsed Donald Trump for president, yet have never denounced his statements after Charlottesville nor during the campaign for that matter. Have they ever made an effort to purge racists from their ranks and make it clear they are not welcome in police forces around the country? This kind of conduct undermines the faith all of us have in police forces to implement the law impartially. It's not just a black/white issue, but one of fundamental civil liberties.
2
Kaepernick's kneeling protest is offensive and divisive, no matter what the protest is for.
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media.
He might as well have said: "I'm going to kill a puppy a day to bring attention to this very important issue to me....." which no one would've paid any attention to other than you offended every dog and animal lover.
If the purpose of the protest was to garner sympathy, support, and to promote positive unified change, it accomplished the opposite. I have no doubt that the victim of a racial slur can't be told that the slur wasn't offensive. I am equally certain that a vet who lost his leg for this country can't be told he wasn't offended.
Pick another way to protest already.
5
What kind of protest would you be ok with, actually? Please be specific.
Because it seems that no matter how people protest, somebody has a problem with it.
2
Ben, If my protest is "I will kill a puppy every day to bring attention to the rampant abuse of cats," do you not see that whatever sympathy I could expect to receive on the valid issue of cat abuse that it will be lost due to the horrific method of protest, not to mention the revulsion by dog owners?
Professional athletes have myriad venues to protest that others do not. Kneeling during the National Anthem isn't close to his only option. And "please be specific," why? So you somehow try to justify that this was only option?
You're grasping at straws trying defend the indefensible.
1
All I asked was for a specific example of a protest you would find acceptable.
This is a complete straw man argument with not a single example of what would be considered acceptable by you.
2
Thank you Charles!
The first thing I read today is that Obama shed tears and blew his nose after leaving his daughter behind at Harvard. I had tears in my eyes when I read that because HIS tears mean something to me and as a parent I could relate, also because such beautiful tears from his heart feel like I lived the beauty of Obama years and years ago! God, how I miss that man as our president! As an American reading you each time, the truth and fire of passion in your words brings a pain inside me that lasts for hours after--because I know its the TRUTH! So, Charles, you make me drunk on the bitter truth. I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet (Joni Mitchell) and somehow your truth, as bitter as it is, is self-soothing because it is the TRUTH!
One of the images that I have in my heart and mind which is simply a moment in history which never leaves me--not ever, is Willy Brandt who in 1970 went to Warsaw and fell to knees to honor millions who were murdered by Germans. It was an act so powerful, so raw with emtion, so humble in asking for forgiveness of crimes that it just struck the man down with guilt and grief.
I can imagine Obama doing such an act of grace--never Trump because he has none.
Tomorrow night Yom Kippur begins. For Jews it is a time for reflection and forgiveness. I will reflect, I will fast, I will forgive because only the humble and great can. My heart is breaking for my country since November 8.
Drunk on the bitter truth.
4
trump's definition of, and pronouncements on, patriotism makes many of us, who actually put on a uniform, sick. He faked a bone spur to avoid the draft and has defamed John McCain. He spent time at a finishing school for social delinquents called a "military" academy and learned nothing more there than how to demean women.
His opinion on patriotism is meaningless.
4
You would think they set the stadium on fire. All these players did was silently kneel, a gesture often positively associated with piety, penitence or humility. Nothing reveals the racist sickness in this country more than when such a protest can generate such vitriol at the highest levels. Meanwhile, a loud protest with torches, assault rifles and swastikas is just understandable outrage trying to preserve "history". Dear God, we are so lost.
3
Really, given this history and the ongoing problems between the black community and the police in many places, the huge disparities in wealth between whites and minorities and white indifference to all of it, we should count ourselves lucky indeed that the main form of protest from black Americans in this country is for their athletes to bend the knee when the anthem is played. We all need to wake up!
3
To those who say the stadium is not the proper forum for demonstrating personal beliefs, I say, what better forum? The stadium flag demonstrates personal belief, the anthem blasted from loud speakers demonstrates it. The crowd standing, hats off, hands over hearts, and singing demonstrates it. Our country says it believes we're all equal but doesn't act that way. If a white player knelt for the cause of injustice towards blacks, there'd be no fervor, just scratching of heads and wondering what the heck the guy is doing and maybe he has early CTE. When a black player does it, it's next to heresy. Fire him. He's a football player. He's fast and strong and wicked on the field. We love him for that. But what, you say, he has personal beliefs? About whites? About white treatment of blacks? And he's displaying these beliefs on the field before a game? Heresy! Fire him! How dare he criticize whites before a white crowd in the football stadium? I ask, how can a courageous passionate level-headed black man not?
3
I wonder with all my white privilege, why i can't make political statement on my job without getting fired. I am supposed to feel bad for a bunch of overpaid babies who make more money than i ever will and feel oppressed. I don't. As far as i'm concerned shouldn't the NFL be practicing more racial diversity on the field ? The same NFL in bed with politicians to pay for its stadiums with tax dollars then charges the rubes who go to the games super high prices to attend. I wish for once that American would embrace activities that are important like understanding how neo liberalism is destroying the fabric of the country rather than embracing mindless cheering of a useless unimportant game. For once I hope the left succeeds in destroying the NFL since i have no use for it anyway.
2
Do you have to take a patriotism test in front of everyone at the beginning of every day at your job? Because it seems to me that the military isn't paying most businesses to put on displays of militant patriotism every day. That's just the NFL.
2
Thank you for for this important and insightful column.
2
I think we, collectively, need to move on from this race thing, just go on with your lives the less you think about it the less of an issue will be for you.
It's got to be exhausted getting up every morning manufacturing new threats from other races.
3
I think people need to move on from the idea that black people need to "get over" slavery, segregation, and systemic racism.
It ain't gonna happen as long as so many people are more than happy to deny the reality.
2
You should ask Trump and the GOP. They are the ones manufacturing the threats.
2
Here is where I'm coming from. My family from my Mom's side is Lithuanian. My mom's earlier family generations in Lithuania were victims of both the pogroms of the Bolsheviks and Stalinists--some of whom I actually met when I was a child. A 'great, great ... uncle Joseph was sent to the forced labor camps in Siberia (slavery?) and died there in captivity. That was in the early 1900s--at least 50 years after our Civil War. Should I seek reparations from Russia? Should I have people in Russia help me heal and tell the truth about history and the past? Should I somehow try to attack Mr Putin in the press for transgressions (like a family member being sent to Siberia as forced labor) by Russians against my family generations ago? Should I feel differently about Russians? What 'insight' am I missing?
No one alive today has any connection to, or was involved in, any of those wrongdoings. The Civil War settled the matter and stopped the wrong of slavery. There is no one alive today that should be self-flagellating themselves over the behavior of people generations ago. One can only behave today by living by the Golden Rule and moving forward. Mr Blow is always looking for the race issue--today--behind every lamp post, which only perpetuates division. The U.S. has made extraordinary progress in incorporating many races, creeds, and colors in the society of this magnificent country. I look forward to Mr Blow's next column being about that progress.
4
Are you saying that us Black should forget about our past? We acknowledge it and need others to acknowledge it and make amends and stop treating us like second class citizens. I certainly don't hear anyone telling the Jews they need to forget about the Holocaust or any other remembrance they have. They do so as it is a part of what makes them Jewish. Their brothers and sisters, husbands, relatives were killed. People don't just move on, the pain only becomes a little bit more tolerable when they're not currently being persecuted. Wish I could say the same for people of color, who it seems are always in hunting season by the oppressors.
1
All anyone has to do is search for videos of rogue cops killing unharmed citizens and ,if they have n open mind , they will understand what the players are protesting .
This problem is far more prevalent than the occasional incident that makes the news .
I am a 79 year old white man who now fears any routine traffic stop by a cop , because I know that he has the power to take my life ,without hesitation , with no fear of ever paying the price for his actions , I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to drive while black ,
White unharmed man shot and killed while having convulsions laying on the ground after being tasered , white middle age woman shot and killed in the middle of the afternoon while parked in a church parking lot , mentally ill man shot numerous time my multiple cops ,and killed for the crime of camping on government property .
These are just a few examples .so if you think that your skin color will protect you , you are wrong .
Black people have a legimitate complaint and the players have a right to voice their concern .
So if you are ever pulled over by a cop and you hear - I fear for my life - that will be the last thing you will ever hear .
3
I am not upset at the NFL players who choose to kneel during the playing of the national anthem. Their demonstration is a peaceful form of protest which takes advantage of the public arena which amplifies their defiance of Donald Trump.
Personally, I don't agree with Mr Blow's angry contention that Americans "pretend that offenses (against black people by white people) have been isolated and anomalous and not orchestrated and executed by the nation." The nation?
There exists zero evidence that the nation has orchestrated and executed a police state whose intent is to oppress African Americans. There has been much greater publicity about police shootings of African Americans today than a few decades ago; the actual numbers are down. There exists a racist subculture among many whites that either hate or dislike blacks. Some of them are in police departments. They must be eliminated from public service.
But that does not constitute a national effort to sustain a police state whose purpose is to oppress African Americans.
Slavery was real. So too was Jim Crow. Those were times wherein the state used its police powers to oppress African Americans. That is not the case today.
To be honest, most whites have stopped listening to people like Mr Blow, who see racism everywhere and either use data incorrectly or deliberately to support their views.
Today, African Americans oppress African Americans. Every day. Just look at the violent crime statistics.
5
More racial and identity politics from Blow and the New York Times. Who does this benefit? Let the millionaire players continue to exercise their first amendment rights and let the chips fall where they may.
My personal American hero here is Pittsburgh Steeler player and West Point grad Alejandro Villanueva who exercised his own first amendment rights and saluted the flag during the playing of our anthem at last Sunday's Steeler game. He was then shamed by Steeler coach Mike Tomlin into apologizing for not supporting his team.
2
I could not make it through this column without weeping. I am so ashamed of the racists in government--how can they know about the atrocity that was the slave trade? And if they *do* know, that is even worse--how do they not also feel deep shame and sadness at the horrors our forbears visited on their fellow human beings?
This is not difficult--one need only have a heart, a brain, and ears and eyes with which to listen and read. Yet it would seem to be beyond the ability of our current POTUS to have the tiniest shred of empathy for what African-Americans went through and continue to go through.
3
What I want to know is how the FBI and US intelligence services, despite all that has since been uncovered, managed to miss a fringe brand-creep like Donald Trump being turned into a Kremlin asset right under their noses while he was busy conning his way into the open arms of the GOP and the Presidency. We got Hillary’s emails instead. Please explain.
Meanwhile the Russians are now openly exulting in their successful disruption of American democracy (as well as Britain’s and Europe's with Brexit, btw) by playing the race card via the more than willing Trump, causing division and cringing embarrassment throughout rational America. No doubt they are planning their next cyber coup, not that the material isn't here in abundance. The rabid-MAGA patriots certainly don’t seem to care that America needs Putin’s strong man help to be great again. Please explain.
And now, as a result, the needy-weakling-in-chief is now in a position to threaten to destroy entire nations on our behalf while his enabling sleazeball Spicer is dealt a get out of jail free pass by the entertainment industrial complex. Comey does have a lot to answer for.
Many books will no doubt be written about this and a few will even be read in this celebrity drunk nation. We may well survive, but if we do, I have no doubt Trump will be rebranded a hero like that other destructive fool Ronald Reagan.
1
Don't worry. The next GOP president will make us nostalgic for Trump, just like Trump makes us nostalgic for Dubya.
I genuinely think it's just going to get worse and worse.
1
Imo there is nothing more American than taking a non violent stance against any ism that wrongfully segregates individuals according to race or religion. Any American who fails to find flaw with segregation are themselves deeply flawed individuals. To think that they because of their color or religion are somehow better humans is as wrong and Neanderthal like as it gets. Simply presenting an image of acceptance of equality is hardly the same as actually practicing it.A lifetime of personal observations tell me that far too many white Americans for whatever reasons fail to recognize themselves for the racists they are. Feelings of superiority are not a god given right.
3
We need the voice of The People back in the House of Representatives. The voice of The Money and The Religion and The Corporation ain't working for The People, not the way President Lincoln intended. The number of Reps was locked at 435 after the census of 1910 and hasn't been permitted to move since.
There were 91 Million people in the US of A then; there are 321 Million now. Let us remove our attention from the great Red & Blue, Protestant & Catholic divides long enough to do the math: the House of Representatives should number 1534 not 435. If we're to advocate for the future, Mister Blow, as you do so eloquently so often, let's advocate for a return to the democratic principle our Founders built the Constitution around: Representation of the People, by the People, for the People. It's an excellent place to start.
1
This is a gruesome summary, and fair, for the most part.
Thank you for the quote from DuBois. It's wise.
But why doesn't Mr. Blow ever mention black women? He's interested in this football story, and the incarceration of young black men, he mourns the babies who were, in many cases, born of rape and then died.
But what about the maternal death rate? The death rate of those who were raped? It must have been high.
I don't much care about football (a brutal sport) and am amazed that these players have attracted so much attention. And press. Of course it happened, in part, because Donald Trump is a showman who knows what sells. But why do so many journalists take the bait?
1
Karma. DJT opens his mouth and the left checks the facts, examines its values, and clarifies talking points.
This issue, "the knee", has opened conversations about the US flag being soiled in black blood. Indisputable facts. America belongs to all of us, and the historical progress, rewards, punishment, and pain are real.
Hopefully these conversations will enlighten and strengthen the resolve to thwart the DJT legislative agenda and regain control over the levers of power. Can there be a silver lining to this nonsense?
2
What I find sickening is trump's hypocracy concerning his so called patriotism. He, on a daily basis, disrespects our flag and our country with his abuse of power, disregard of the law and love of despicable dictators. If he has his way, our democracy will be fully in the toilet by 2020.
I am behind the kneeling athletes for they have brought light to the injustices that have been going on for decades in a very beautiful, quiet, dignified way.
I saw on MSNBC last night that Russia has taken out ads on Facebook already for both sides. If true, obviously this is to fan the flames of division in this country. Whose idea was this to begin with, Putin's or trump's? I believe this is why trump will not let go of this rediculous, petty daily rhetoric.
When will Congress wake up to this over throw of our democracy?
4
Trump selling patriotism? That's just another word whose meaning never penetrated the dense thicket of his egoism. Apart from being an execrable human being, he has dimmed the lights so that all kinds of nastiness can crawl out of their lairs and befoul the Union.
4
Once again, Charles Blow so eloquently expresses what I've been trying to articulate for myself but didn't yet have the words or the historical knowledge.
2
It's odd that Trump rabidly needs to throw his "base" red meat, when he has already won them over. Whatever he does or says is okay with them.
"Explanations," then, seem futile, almost surrealistic. Explanations for sneering sociopaths also normalizes them, which is part of their game plan.
1
Very powerful account of the black experience in America. It taught me things I didn't know I didn't know. Thanks for your continued, spirited defense of liberty in the face of President Trump.
1
I love these data references that constantly compare percentages to the black population. Just because there is only 13% population of blacks does not mean they cannot commit a higher or lower percentage of any crime. That comparison is totally disingenuous. Secondly, we are all aware of the horrible history surrounding slavery. The question is when will successful people like Charles or Kaepernick start writing articles about achieving in life instead of the nonstop poisoning of the minority mind?
3
First of all, poor people in general disproportionately commit crimes, and black Americans are disproportionately poor.
Also, every serious study on the subject shows that young black men suffer disproportionately at every level of the US justice system, from investigation to arrests to convictions to sentencing.
And why is it that black people are constantly lectured to by white people about achieving in life, yet white people with many more advantages are coddled and told their poverty isn't their fault, but that of liberals, or progressives, or immigrants, or globalism, or...
2
To say nothing of the Blacks killed in Viet Nam while white men got out of the draft. The American flag is soaked in buckets of blood.
I still don't understand how people can say there is no racism in America, all you have to do is pay attention or even just open your eyes. These men taking a knee are offering as gentle rebuke as could be imagined. And they are objecting to murder.
1
Since the Founding Fathers America has dodged the issue of racism by making constant compromises : allowing slavery in states which accepted the political philosophy of the Declaration of Independence ("all men are created equal…" !!) and the Constitution, Mason-Dixon line, etc… even when evading the issue became impossible with the Civil War they resumed refusing to confront the problem and look somewhere else when racism took ofer (Southern States segregation, KKK, etc…). That's how racism became institutionalized in United States. Desegregation in 1964 should NOT be considered as an end of racism in USA, but only the beginning of the end. Desegregation should have been implemented in 1865, to really end the Civil War and make blacks full citizens. As long as America will not confront its past as German (and others) did after WWII, American racism will thrive with the consequences we all know to well and of which Trump is only the most recent offspring.
It take a lot of courage but that is the only way which will make black citizens full citizens of USA and and stop the American blacks living in a state of schizophrenia though which they are required to constantly prove they are better citizens while having to accept to remain outcast.
76
Mr. Blow presents an ugly history of Afro-Americans in the U.S.; it is shameful, but it is not the only one. For example, in the 1840s 1 million starving Irish peasants (and additional displaced Scots) came to North America aboard the aptly named coffin ships only to be met with "No dogs, no Irish" signs. Thousands died on the ships during the voyage and also when officials in both Canada and the U.S. wouldn't permit them to land. These are same Irish who were recruited - through means both fair and foul - to fight in the Civil War to abolish slavery.
A similar story of sorrow and horror can be told by many - Native Americans slaughtered and starved, Jews denied entry and opportunity, Muslims demonized.
My point isn't to diminish the impact of the horrific treatment of Afro-Americans in the United States nor to elevate the suffering of the Irish and Scots. Nor is to attempt to render history irrelevant. The point is that the flag is drenched in the blood of many - individuals and groups. Surely there is a better way to make one's point than to appeal to a history that others share in equal measure.
50
White people love to bring up the Irish as "proof" white Americans suffered too.
Yes, but not like black Americans did.
And although a first-generation Irish immigrant might have faced discrimination, they had a chance to lift their family up within a couple of generations.
You say you aren't trying to make an equivalence between the treatment of both groups, but you clearly are. You reinforce that at the end when you say that others share that history in equal measure.
No, they do not. Not in this country. Unless you are Native American, you have no chance of making that claim.
165
Then maybe the Irish and the Jews and the Muslims should all drop down on their knee when the anthem is being played.
But they weren't slaves and their history has been cleansed of its origins. Not so with blacks.
Actually someone recently pointed out how racist Irish Boston is.
5
Essential difference -- the Irish were NOT brought here as slaves, and once assimilated have benefited from the color of their white skin in a nation built on white supremacy.
5
How did this wretched man become president? He dawdles while people suffer in Puerto Rico to engage in horrible racist taunts. His followers are emboldened to call people names or worse. He is a racist like his father. He has no respect for anyone of colour. He has never been "presidential" as he bragged that he would be. He is an abomination.
2
I am a Brown woman who lives in the awful awful State of Texas. This is 2017, something happens in this State that I hear about, read about, witness or actually directly experience, that disgusts me, frightens me and scares me. I got accosted by a police for parking my car in front of a dry cleaners I frequent for a few minutes in a parking lot, that was not blocking anybody, because a White dude, wearing a supremacist fatigue, looking to pick fights, called the cop over a trivial trivial parking issue. The man in a fatigue had a gun, and had kids in fatigues too. The police admitted that he had more important things to do than deal with a stupid parking issue in a parking lot. But then I, out of fear that I had never felt with cops before, asked him bluntly if he was going to follow me and then hurt me. He was stunned that I would even ask such a question. But to a lot of women that is now a natural question to ask lot of White men with power, or in uniform. Because too many White men, today as before, only know domination, authoritarianism, cruelty, disrespect and instilling fear.
Something I am learning about the South directly.
How sad and sick indeed.
52
Why don't you leave Texas, I mean I would if i lived anywhere and felt that way. Racism and inequality will evolve to where it needs to be, but it will not happen overnight, sadly but true. Some states will evolve faster, but others more slowly. Not naming any just saying We do need to implement education programs to get rid of racism for the next generation. I don't think there is much to do about the current adult or older racists to change their minds.
Just like all those middle age white dudes, many no doubt Trump supporters, who used their pickup trucks and boats to rescue people during hurricane Harvey. They rescued old and young, black and white, indigent and prosperous. Did it on their own time and at personal risk and cost.
There are good and bad of every race and religion.
Sorry you had to move you car. Hope the cop didn't give you a ticket.
2
I recall an English translation of Chairman Mao saying, "Power comes out of a barrel of a gun." White folks have been using this method long before the Chairman was alive.
You are sane to be scared: scared of the white vigilantes and apprehensive of the police. Stay sane. Stay safe.
2
This issue is all the more ironic when the people who incorrectly criticize the players for disrespecting the flag by taking a knee, ignorantly cheer the gross disrespect of the flag by the owners who display huge versions of the stars and stripes horizontally during "patriotic" pre-game and half-time displays. The flag should never be displayed horizontally. Never. It is disrespectful. And how many of these same yahoos who chide the players' demonstrations are doing it while wearing flag t-shirts, hats, jackets, shorts? The flag should never be depicted on clothing of any kind. It is disrespectful. And how many of these fools chide the players while eating hot dogs and corn dogs off paper plates with pictures of the flag? The flag should never be depicted on any cheap paper plate. Ever. Why is it that the most ignorant people are the loudest voices?
28
Charles, the most politically conscious group in America is the Black Community.
And the most radically revolutionary film the American people were ever allowed to see was "Bulworth"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA62refAB2w
When a people start to perceive that their land is in the hands of an Empire, foreign or domestic, then; political symbols, songs, and flags are viewed differently:
"To make the songs easier to sing, those writing political songs frequently wrote new words to old tunes. For example, the tune of “God Save the King,” the English National Anthem, is the same melody used in “America,” (which later, was re-written again as “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”). Though one is about America and the other England, the first verses of each song are very similar in tone. But the next three verses differ markedly from one another. The English version asks God to help the king control his enemies (“Confound there politics, frustrate their knavish tricks”) while the American version blesses “the commonwealth,” “Great Washington,” and acclaims the independent “free states.”
The American flag has always been honored for being against the first Empire we revolted against --- and all Empires.
3
Thank you Charles Blow for providing us with the details of the unvarnished truth about the treatment of Africans in our country. I admire you greatly.
33
Don't you mean African-Americans???
1
Mr. Blow nicely captures the sense of some seeing the flag through a "haze of hurt." But wise ones the world over counsel the hurt to see the source of hurt, accept the pain, and move through it to another place. For example, it's said that though pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. The history of African American slavery and Jim Crow is ghastly, but present circumstances are generally not ghastly. Staying in a ghastly pain from another era is to some extent a choice, just as it is a sort of choice for some African Americans to commit homicide today at a rate far surpassing the rate at which whites commit homicide. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Blacks were 7 times more likely than whites . . . to commit homicides in 2000." Almost two decades later, blacks are now about 10 times more likely than whites to commit homicide, according to the BJS. The haze of hurt may persist, but its source today is at best ambiguous, because the most immediate source of homicidal pain, at least, appears to come from within the African American demographic group. More than half of homicide offenders in the U.S. are African American, while about 15 percent of the general population is African American. Is Mr. Blow helping or hurting with a column like this?
7
But they obviously *are* ghastly for many people. African American parents fear for the safety of their children. Young people lack opportunities due to systemic disregard. My 18-year-old son has a bright future because he has had a decent education, and has been raised (like his parents before him) in the belief that there are no boundaries for him other than his own abilities. So many young African Americans see no evidence of this in their own lives, and this is on the society we white people created.
1
Dave Oedel of Macon, Georgia. Home of James Brown, Otis Redding, Little Richard, The Allman Brothers Band, Ooops, is it obvious that I'm rather grateful for the musical contributions from that city?
Now to your comment: Let's say all of it is valid. Could you please focus on the mass killings in the USA? John Wayne Gacy, the Sandy Hook shooter, Dylan Roof, Son of Sam, Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson. In short, whites aren't doing too badly in the crime department.
In my opinion, Mr. Blow is helping shed valid information on the topic and is hurting the feelings of those who refuse to see the truth he is exposing.
2
When people are in pain, continued pain, some lash out. Are you surprised? And yet most serial killers are white men. How do you explain that?
1
Mr. Blow
Your writing and the writings of others such as Michelle Alexander need to become part of the required curriculum in every school. Thank you.
25
Mark Twain, disgusted by the lynchings of his era, and the the bloody excesses of American imperialism after the Spanish American War, proposed a new design for the American flag. In his design, skulls and crossbones replaced the stars of the field, and the stripes were changed to red and black.
15
You fill our hearts with knowledge Charles Blow. So inadequate to be a single citizen and say I acknowledge all you've shared here, and I apologize. I wish to make your writing required reading each time you put pen to paper. DJT would benefit from spending a week with you and prevented from saying one word, only to listen to anything you choose to tell. Kudos.
15
Your comment would be a lot more powerful if you hadn't said pretty much the same thing to Bret Stephens just today.
All you need to know about those more concerned about a symbol rather than the Black Lives being lost is that
If people took a knee to protest how veterans are treated.
Those same people would be joining in. Those complaining are just upset that Black people and their allies have the audacity to expect equal treatment and racists either don't want them to have it or are unwilling to look into their own hearts to see what is there.
15
I agree: taking a knee in silent protest is such an 'Uppity" action against racism and injustice.
At a Richie Haves, concert a zillion years ago, he reminded that audience of the opening of the "Superman" tv show-- "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a train" or something to that effect. But the last lines were that Superman stood for "Truth, Justice," on one hand and "The American Way" on the other.
Now this was a long time ago, but the implied separation was immediately understood. Somethings only need to done or said once to have a lifelong effect.
I appreciate your comment and didn't care to be a nameless recommender.
2
If people - black, white, hispanic, or otherwise hate our country so much that they disrespect our flag then they should leave it and declare their citizenship somewhere else. I won't be watching any NFL games this season. It is a disgrace. Love your country or leave it.
13
And if Trump supporters so despise the country that they're living in now as to long for a return to the 1950s (before civil rights, gay rights, women's lib and other such horrors erupted to mar the dominance represented by white male heterosexual Protestants), perhaps they, too, should find another country to inhabit. I'd recommend Russia, where a strongman presides over a society in which blacks are virtually nonexistent, Muslims are rarely encountered, immigration (legal or otherwise) is essentially a non-issue and homosexuality is officially abhorred. Why bother to make America great again when Russia is great enough right now?
6
If it weren't so sad, your assumption that protesting means that the protester hates our country would be funny. The vast, vast majority of protesters seeking social justice hear LOVE this country enough to try to help it live up to its ideals. I protested the war in Vietnam frequently and energetically - did I hate the U.S.? Not at all. As Christians are wont to say, abhor the sin, not the sinner.
2
You have so completely missed the point of both the kneelers and of Mr. Blow's article that it is breathtaking. Did you read it? Do you have the empathy to understand the feelings attached to many Black people whose national history is so complicated?
2
The American Flag was drenched with blood way before Trump. Go back some 400 years ago: Peter Stuyvesant.
That man was the most cruel slave traitor in the Dutch Caribbean, head quartered on the Island of Curacao. Africans were shipped by the Dutch straight from Africa to the island and then sold all over South America and the US. Those that did not get sold were used on the island for salt mining, forced to work with little water and daily temperatures raising to 120 degrees. His favorite punishment for misbehavior was to hang the slaves from a metal hook just below their ribs dying slowly and agonizing pain.
For all his work done on the island Stuyvesant was promoted to Mayor of New Amsterdam.
He started off drenching the flag but never was never recognized here in the US. Why do we have so many buildings and neighborhoods here in New York carrying his name full in great pride including "Stuyvesant High school" and "Stuyvesant Apartments" both in Manhattan. What about the "Bedford-Stuyvesant" Neighborhoods and Highways in Brooklyn
We must still be very proud of this man - "The Flag is Drenched" indeed but certainly way before Trump showed up.
7
Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutchman who died in 1664, more than a hundred years before the United States or the U.S. flag existed.
ESPN reported that there is no rule that says the NFL players must stand for the national anthem. There is a "suggestion" that the players should stand with their helmets off and their hands over their hearts. We know that Donald Trump is a lying hypocrite. This is the same man that criticized Senator John McCain (who served in Vietnam) and the parents of the young Muslim soldier who died while serving in the armed forces of the United States. The players should be able to continue to protest by taking a knee until a rule is added by the NFL that says otherwise.
34
Not the proper forum to demonstrate personal opinions on social or political beliefs.
Get on your feet or go find something else to do.
Some wag on the radio just warned, "you haven't stopped smoking until you have quit for three weeks, because it takes three weeks to drop a habit."
The NFL has two more weeks.
6
It's not a forum for political beliefs. OK, then why are we playing the national anthem in the first place? It's a football game, not a government function.
The anthem is appropriate in sports when there is international competition, as in the Olympic games.
And while I support the players taking a knee in the NFL, because they are protesting during what amounts to a forced loyalty oath, I would think twice about taking a knee during international competition. In that case respect for the country should come first.
10
Not the right forum? So how about football players marching on Washington on a Sunday afternoon? Perhaps they should surround the White House and take a knee right there or tackle Jeff Sessions as he attempts to walk into the building. (This is America whose constitution does not restrict freedom of speech and expression in ANY forum.)
7
Holman in Dallas:
What, pray tell, is the "proper forum"? Black people are told to not protest at work, not protest in the streets, not protest on campuses, etc, etc, etc. I guess there is always the privacy of their own homes.
7
How many 18+ year old persons are registered to vote in 2018 and beyond?
Talk is not enough, there is an old saying "put up or shut up". If the electorate stays at home they have no right to complain about an election outcome.
Register and vote, please don't let anyone keep y'all from the polls.
13
In addition to all the crimes, indignities, and ongoing discrimination, black people must live with the knowledge that much of the country was built on slave labor. Were it not for the divisions of race, many of our underpaid white working people would find solidarity with everyone who's been exploited by low wages, a discriminatory workplace, and virtually no justice for denial of fundamental rights.
Donald Trump is carrying on a long tradition of dividing people by color who would otherwise be joined by their shared experience of exploitation. Working class Americans continue to be punished, yet blame everyone and everything but the real perpetrators. Civil rights, immigration, feminism, and sexual orientation are America's bogeymen, and Donald Trump will exploit them as long as he can bring out the worst in people who still haven't figured out who it is that wants to keep them down. Black athletes have achieved the success and status to sing, "Take this job and shove it," just like the rebellious country boys. We have to hope white, working-class America will finally figure out the scam and join the movement toward equal justice for all.
19
I’m appalled that our President is twisting the love of our country and the sacrifice for those who served America into a demonic political game. When my African-American Grandaddy died(World War II Veteran) there was a flag service at the cemetery. I was sitting under a tent next to my grandmother and when the soldiers presented it to her, she pointed to me and they gave his flag that was on his casket to me. What a great honor to have been given the flag that was placed over my Grandaddy’s casket.
Over my lifetime, I have never said the pledge for my allegiance is to Christ Jesus , yet I love my country and I dare anyone to tell me differently. I agree that Donald Trump’s obsession with the flag issue has everything to do with race. Look at his tweets prior to and after the election and I abhor his disrespect subtly and boldly towards people of color.
How anyone would question why a man or women is on their knees during an anthem is shameful. How would spectators not know if they were praying for our country? I guess now religious freedom only applies to White Folk! I’m tired of this hypocrisy!
I gave DT a chance, I really did and I will continue to pray for him and our country, but he is a divider and none of his actions are Christlike!
18
Very thorough research job by Mr. Blow. I appreciate this information no end. Some people like our president would not be able to understand the magnitude of this issue.
20
America has a terrible history of demeaning its African-American population. On the other hand, its African-American population also has a terrible history of poor family structure and high crime rates. Both sides need to address those issues.
17
@Loyd Eskildson: "African-American population also has a terrible history of poor family structure." Wanna know why? That "poor family structure" did not happen on its own. Black people didn't just decide to break up their own families. Poverty and the economics of an entrenched system of economic exclusion and pure unadulterated racism is the propellant of your so-called Terrible Black Family Structure.
Do yourself a favor (if your are so inclined)-- wade into the history of Black people fleeing the South after Slavery and the Jim Crow . There- you will discover the movement of Blacks to so-called friendlier terrain was fraught with no welcome mat but another form of servitude; One that locked the Black Male head-of-household from virtually all jobs that would support that Black Family Structure. In the North, that black male competed for jobs that white males concluded was their domain. Like my own family, my grandfather had to leave his family and move West to find work: We were fortunate. He was able to save enough money to send for his wife and children. Many moving to the "North" and Midwest" did not fare as well. The wives and children often became destitute and went on "State" Charity which excluded "able-bodied" men. The men were compelled to leave the household. Millions incurred this lock-out of opportunity. No sir; Blacks didn't dismantle their own family structure. I would great to learn something before posting a categorical denunciation as you did Loyd.
23
As slaves, black people were not allowed to have "families." They were also not allowed to learn to read or do math. After slavery, they were not allowed to own homes or attend white schools. They were not allowed to vote or take part is governing. All the progress they have made in their ability to have families, maintain a social structure and avoid incarceration in a hostile society is due to their efforts and the sporadic assistance of a few enlightened white citizens. When young white boys are let off for minor violations of the law and black boys are incarcerated, we are systematically segregating our world. Most whites are above the law, and most blacks are under it.
3
You are correct to a point. However, statistically poor family structure, once predominantly a Black phenomena, was largely due to the deliberate separation of Black male slaves from their Black "wives"...often married in a secret "jumping the broom" ceremony..for love. The purpose of the segregation of males and females, except when forced to create more slave children for the wealth of a plantation...was to both prevent love and attachment in a family order, and to enforce allegiance to the plantation owner and overseer...no matter how feared and hated. After several hundred years of this...do you think a larger White male population...then suddenly thrust into an economy and sociological structure not inclusive of slavery, but still belittled, deliberately kept uneducated, even illiterate...would do better than Black men who derived from those circumstances? That is the reason for Affirmative Action, and for aid programs to finally integrated public school districts. However, our criminal justice system has also included racist policies regarding males of color..including "Stop and Frisk" in NYC...found to be unsuccessful in crime reduction; incarceration on minor drug use & dissemination charges of many Black youths who cannot afford a good defense attorney and rot in our system of corporatized prisons (a Clinton-Gingrich legacy for sure). Look at successful middle class Black or White families: it takes EDUCATION, Work Skills & Pride; why many Blacks fight our wars.
Is there anyone else who has been haunted by the image of mainly black football players, on a field, being told to obey the taunts of an authority figure or get off that field?
There are dog whistles, and then there are astonishing displays.
But why be astonished? I guess. This country is founded on many principles, and one of them was institution of slavery. That legacy continues in the institution of mass incarceration of people of color. We all participate in it.
There is no greater irony than someone exhibiting their freedom of speech by trying to forbid it to others.
57
Important to remember blacks were disproportionately drafted and initially disproportionately assigned to MOS 11B. Nothing justifies Trump remarks, but Viet Nam veterans note Donald J. Trump did not stand when his draft notice came. Maybe it was those "bone spurs". Gee, maybe Colin had bone spurs also.
27
This column should be read and discussed in every history and social studies class in America. Today.
97
Yes, as an example of how to meet a minimum word count by padding with lenghty quotations.
You mean in psychology class discussions about self-delusion, correct?
Full disclosure, I am a Vietnam vet that spent 4 years in the US Navy - I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, and the first black kid ( as well as the first Jewish kid) I encountered was in boot camp in Illinois at the ripe old age of 20. As a kid, i watched the injustices in the south, freedom riders, sit ins, and integrations of schools in Alabama. In my 30's I watched my beloved home town of Boston almost rip itself apart over school integration. I played Cowboys and Indians as a kid, without a thought as to how we made them suffer. As I grew and read, i now see how hateful we must been seen through the historical view. I am not offended by athleetes, or anyone that see "taking a knee" -as a slight to our veterans or flag. I am offended by people who skipped out on their duties to serve when they had the chance. I am offended when they wrap themselves in the flag and lecture me about patriotism. We served for " all the people". We may be very flawed country, but unless we learn from our mistakes, we will repeat them. And this administration is making it very clear that they intend to do exactly that. So Kneel, raise your fists, and shout from the roof tops - Make america humble again.
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YES! Thank you for these very powerful words.
1
Loyalty, like love, must be earned; it cannot be demanded. Most American whites live in a country whose government treats them with respect and seeks to protect their interests. The police view them as part of the community they are sworn to protect. Businesses solicit their patronage and treat them courteously.
Black Americans, more than in the past, share these experiences, but the criminal justice system in particular continues to treat those who live in the inner cities as if they were enemy aliens, who must be stopped when behind the wheel of a car or on the street, because the color of their skin attaches suspicion to them like an ineradicable stain.
W.E.B. Du Bois fought this treatment most of his long life, but at the end he lost faith and moved to Africa. Frederick Douglass, before the Civil War, told white Americans that July fourth meant nothing to his people; it didn't represent independence for them. How could anyone with an ounce of integrity criticize him for pointing out such an obvious truth?
In our own time, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the protest of the athletes, represent a peaceful attempt to inform the larger American society that this country continues to treat some ethnic minorities in ways that fail to earn their loyalty and respect for the nation. The fact that the vast majority nevertheless do love America reveals more about them than it does about the rest of us.
38
Mass incarceration is the result of mass criminal behavior, which unsurprisingly is not addressed in this op-ed. Oh, and slavery ended 152 years ago. It is time to move on, not to dredge up old grievances. Every race and group can do that, but it is completely non-productive.
13
Ron, Slavery was in fact made illegal 152 years ago but the injustice, prejudice, and bigoted hatred remains to this day. Its the most shameful underbelly of American culture. The grievances are not old, they are happening here and now. Were you paying attention as you read Mr Blow's piece?
15
Technically slavery ended long ago. Jim Crow went on. Now we have the death penalty for driving while black. And attempts to limit voting rights for minorities and disenfranchisement by gerrymandering.
8
Can't you see that it's impossible for many "to move on" when the random lynchings only recently largely went away, when the unequal justice (percentages of death penalties for whites vs blacks when convicted of murder) remains rampant, when police violence is visited disproportionately on unarmed black people, when educational opportunities are racially driven. After slavery, did you ever read about the lives of black sharecroppers, which was just about the only avenue for any livelihood available to ex-slaves and their descendants? Your white privilege is showing, Ron. Dismissing the statistics just accentuates your show of ignorance or a complete lack of compassion.
3
I would "take a knee" alongside Colin Kaepernick any day, before I'd stand alongside Trump.
192
Please reflect that such sentiments lead to civil wars.
Once peaceful politics becomes impossible the next step is open violence.
Lincoln was correct in his statement that a house/nation divided against itself cannot stand. The nation that defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War 2 and defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War can only be destroyed internally. Balkanization by ethnicity or partisan politics is never a recipe for internal stability.
Donald Trump isn't exactly a recipe for internal stability, Kevin.
2
This article brings to mind the moving novel Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth. A thoroughly researched book that describes the crossing. A must read for everyone.
9
Trump, whose family of cowards has never served even day one in defense of this nation, imo has no legitimate right to question the motivations of anyone in terms of patriotism. The flag is a symbol of unity, these athletes are merely recognizing the reality that unity is not equal across the spectrum of race consideration. I fully admire these folks for recognizing that our flag is not always faithfully acknowledged for what it is intended to represent. What could be more American?
32
Race is this country's original sin. It has never been atoned for or expiated. As a white man, I can only share what Charles writes about, but I do feel it viscerally.
To many the apocalypse would have been a Black president followed by a woman. So, we had a (barely) successful presidential campaign based on the slogan "Make America Great Again - for White Men." And now that those who are excluded by this "don't know their place" and have the "disrespect" to speak up, they are opposed by the power structure ... as it always has been.
Remember, however, what Gandhi said:
First they ignore you.
Then they make fun of you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
29
My thoughts exactly; not abolishing slavery at the Constitutional Convention created a blotch on the nation's fabric from its founding. Impossible to do? Perhaps, but the Civil War was the reward. It reminds me of Ulyanov, Bronstein and Sverdlov ordering the murder of Russia's sovereign emperor at Ekaterinburg in 1918, when he and his family could have been so easily sent into exile. Another blood debt that the three of them, and their regime, never paid with decades of horrible and bloody rule as a result. Now their successors are meddling in our elections; at least the tsars never did that.
The old military tactic of divide an conquer is alive and well in America, thanks to Trump for reinforcing it.
8
Our heinous and racist President is seeking to re-brand America in his own image and has wrapped himself in the flag to create the impression that those of us who oppose him are unpatriotic and do not love this country. Feeding this narrative by disrespecting the flag strengthens his base and reinforces his behavior.
Black Lives Matter has been cast by the President and his supporters as meaning, "Black Lives Matter More than Others" to the point where no admonition or attempt to correct that misunderstanding has any effect. The knee presents an opportunity to send the message in a stronger way that indeed black lives matter as much as white lives and that as a nation we must pursue equality.
To that end I humbly observe that anyone who wants to kneel while the national anthem is played should feel free to do so. But a more universal way to send that message, a way that will enervate the President, would be to follow the example of the Dallas Cowboys; take a knee before the anthem is played and then stand (with arms locked if the situation presents itself).
11
Charles,
After waking up as a white boy in the 60's about racial bias and having worked in inner city schools for many years, it is sobering to realize America is still full of racists and now encouraged and aided by leaders in Congress, the president himself, and the very conservative churches of the religions of hate and exclusivity.
I had thought we had made enough progress so that this situation would never happen yet here it is.
For whatever demonstrations, and civil disobedience may accomplish I think the only sure bet is to somehow convince the many non voters who either are victims of this bias or greatly offended by it to get out there and vote.
Clinton was by far the better choice for president this last time yet millions never even registered to vote who would have benefitted form her election. I just encourage all leaders to organize and choose the best candidates who will fight against bias and then make sure constituents you are championing vote for them.
Demonstrations, nor logical and correctly placed blame or any passive aggressive non participation will not place good people in office. I call out to all citizens to strive for active voting for the candidates selected by the representatives of offended groups about to suffer greatly for many years to come as the Supreme Court is filled with hateful and small minded people.
20
AS A JEW And Senior Boomer, I grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust, though my extended family lived here for the most part. So I identify closely with the horrors faced by African Americans in their travails through the bloody history of the US. Judge David Hale ruled that Trump is guilty of incitement to violence by telling supporters at a rally to "get rid of" protesters. When the protesters sustained injuries and brought the case to court, Trump was found to have engaged in speech NOT protected by the Constitution. His oath of office is a solemn commitment to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution, which he finds ways to shred on a daily basis. I imagine that the demonstrations at sports events will continue to grow, fueled by the intense rejection of Trump's destructive racism and hatred. I expect that players in other sports will join arms, some kneeling, to protest during the singing of the national anthem. Also, I expect that spectators will engage in the same sorts of protests. Challenges to Trump's destruction of the US will continue to grow daily until he is called to account for his vast number of violations of his oath of office. He and all of his cronies, the most corrupt bunch ever to occupy high positions of power in DC. Trump didn't drain the swamp; he stocked it with more vicious, poisonous creatures, destructigve than ever inhabited it before.
31
Not only is the flag drenched with the blood of African Americans, so is professional football at this point. I am speaking of the now-established fact that virtually every professional football player will suffer debilitating brain damage. Professional football is now a blood sport.
Ironically enough, the actions of the players who sit or take a knee during the National Anthem are already prohibited under the NFL rules. Since the players are employees, the League would have the right to punish them for what they are doing.
Why does this not happen? Because of the possibility that virtually every player in the League would take a walk, with the result that all the money that comes from professional football would stop flowing. And that would never do.
Pay no attention to the evangelical Christians; money is the true god in our country.
9
And most retiring NFL players end up broke.
1
The NFL is in entertainment business, albeit with an odd business model that receives public subsidy. Not one of the NFL's customers attends or watches to see a political demonstration by a player. Alarm bells should be exploding at the NFL that these protests are engaging the non-fan and distressing the actual fan.
10
Are you kidding? This is what you think about amidst this mess? I am speechless. This issue is so complex and fraught with emotions, and this is what your concern? Troubling!
1
I'd love to see an actual breakdown of the numbers between 'distressed' fans and 'non-distressed' fans. I also wonder if their level of 'distress' would be equivalent to the every day distress a person of color goes through just existing in this country.
1
Woe, woe, WHOA. If a single NFL customers doesn't mind the "political demonstration by a player"--and the number is legion given public responses--you certainly overstate your case. Canada isn't far away, but the blinders on some in judgment there ignore politics in American sports, which have long been a subtext implicit not only in sports, but just about every activity in that country. Why not engage the "non-fan and distress the actual fan?" Incidentally, check out Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, and the poor Penguins' star, Sidney Crosby, for beginners. Whether NHL is only in the entertainment business, too, is contestable.
1
The "Southern Strategy" successfully used by Ronald Reagan and used by every Republican President since, is a tool that penalizes people of color, but also the working white males. It robs both of them of their political power.
This article outlines the barbarism used to keep Blacks "in their place" is shameful, certainly more shameful than taking a knee.
As far as I can determine, no Trump has ever served in the military of our country. Meanwhile people of color have disproportionately served in every war since the civil war and probably in the revolutionary war that started our country.
Thank You for your service!
38
Are you kidding? The Trump grandfather came to this country from Germany, made his fortune, and then wanted to return with his wife to live in Germany but was denied return because he had not done his mandatory military service in Germany and was to old to do so at the time he wanted to repatriate. Fred, the father, told everyone the family was "Swedish" during WWII, and know he also did not serve in the military, just like bone spurs junior.
1
The mythical "southern strategy" was supposedly originated with Nixon, Why didn't it work against Bill Clinton and Obama? Because it is a myth. Can you name 2 or 3 avowed segregationists who were Democrat congressmen who changed parties during the "southern strategy" era? Neither can I because they didn't change parties.
Yes racism is this country is alive and well, and those that would rather blind themselves with empty symbolism are helping to keep
Empty symbolism is when you put the symbols above the constitution and the actual suffering of real human beings. If you are so concerned with respect for the military, maybe you should start calling for the indictment of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice for starting a war based on lies (which was obvious to British intelligence 9 months before the war: read the Downing Street Memo) which led to the death or injury of 50,000 American troops, not to mention PTSD in probably another 50,000. Some troops rotated through Iraq 6 times. As soon as the right cares as much about those war crimes as they do about kneeling during the national anthem, you can start telling me about patriotism.
(And Trump mentioned Tillman, whose death by friendly fire the military lied about for propaganda purposes (aimed at Americans). Meanwhile a person on CNN last night, who served with Tillman, said that when he turned against the war while still in Afghanistan and was ostracized by his unit, Tillman was one of the two people who supported him. Hardly the poster boy to use against peaceful protesters.)
If Trump could use his business and celebrity to engage in politics, even becoming president based on it, why can't sports stars use their business and celebrity.
25
Is standing for the playing of the national song a condition of employment? Didn't think so. End of story. Next phony crisis.
27
Well except trump says it should be
I guess we shouldn't think there is anything odd about the "Star Spangled Banner" being set to the tune of an old British drinking song, an early ditty, if you will, from the "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" genre. But then we go and expect --no, demand-- that everyone stand at attention while it is being played. So, when a black man assumes a posture suitable for prayer when the SSB is performed (or, for that matter, emerging from boom box) some among us (not saying who) are quick to haul out the verbal counterparts to bullwhips, ropes and leg irons.
I see absolutely nothing disrespectful, let alone morally wrong, with kneeling during the anthem. There is certainly no law against the practice. I have read several comments over the preceding days where the writer professes to weep "every" time they hear it. There are several songs I am unable to hold back tears when I hear them, but the national anthem is not among them. First and foremost, there is "Taps." The moment the bugler of the honor guard at the funeral of a military veteran sounds the first note, a river of tears run down my face. Two others guaranteed to leave me sniffling: Louis Armstrong's version of "What a Wonderful World" and Ray Charles's rendition of America the Beautiful." If you can listen to any of these three songs and feel no emotion whatever, your heart must be made of lead. That the most famous versions of the latter two are by black men is, I am firmly convinced, not a coincidence.
46
President Obama's prescription for patriotism is the one I prefer. Unflinchingly looking at our past and the present and seeking to atone for the wrongs we find by becoming a better country, trying to move America closer to our ideals. A position of we are the best no matter what we do or what we've done does not honor the unfulfilled seeds of greatness sown by the founders.
52
Once again Charles Blow rises to the occasion.....as Donald Trump sinks to the occasion.
It is disgusting that a modern George Wallace-Bull Conner wannabe has kidnapped the Oval Office.
It is disgusting that draft-dodger with a note from his daddy's doctor is our Commander-In-Chief.
It is disgusting that a career tax-dodger and tax-evader like Donald Trump is proposing one of the biggest tax-cut dodges (for rich people) in history that will help bankrupt the nation, an act so fundamentally unpatriotic as to be a form of legitimate economic sedition.
It is disgusting that the nation's leader is a world-class Birther-Liar-In-Chief whose driving psychological force is a sadistic, racist passion is to undo the accomplishments of our first - and very accomplished - African American President.
It is disgusting that 63 million Americans share the sensibilities of this Whites R Us Deplorable-In-Chief whose greatest skill is dividing America.
'I have just as much right to stay in America - in fact, the black people have contributed more to America than any other race, because our kids have fought here for what was called "democracy"; our mothers and fathers were sold and bought here for a price. So all I can say when they say "go back to Africa," I say "when you send the Chinese back to China, the Italians back to Italy, etc., and you get on that Mayflower from whence you came, and give the Indians their land back, who really would be here at home?"'
- Fannie Lou Hamer
339
Thank you Charles Blow and Socrates.
1
Trump is the one and only President of the United States that we have. Not by divine royal sanction nor tyranny based armed power. Being disgusted with Trump is not universal. While being disgusted and slinging slurs changes nothing meaningful and lasting and real.
1
Before the "native" Americans there was nothing here in North America but millions of bison and other beautiful wildlife.
Do employees have a right to protest at work?
Depends on the company, and your message apparently.
For instance, Google recently and very publically fired an employee for a conservative blog post. The NFL forbade Dallas Cowboy players from wearing stickers on their helmets supporting slain police officers.
Now, NFL players are lauded for taking a knee on the field. Would others be lauded for wearing a confederate flag t-shirt on the field while the anthem is played?
Free speech and 1st Amendment Constitutional rights apply to the other guy as equally as they do to you.
22
This line of reasoning totally misses the reality of white privilege in America. Mainstream media has simply put the mute button on black speech, other than in negative contexts such as mass demonstrations over the murder of a black boy. There are very few contexts in which the black community can positively state their grievances and be heard by a significant segment of the white community. Professional sports is probably the single best place to do that. Comparing James Damore's firing to the devastating effects of America's structural racism is glib at best
1
All you've established is corporations are fascist. And guess what, stickers and nazi attire violate the NFL uniform code, taking a knee does not.
2
If an NFL player chose to wear a confederate flag - the symbol of traitors, not dissimilar to the Nazi flag - they should be allowed to do it. Of course, the majority of their teammates are black or brown, and they, at least, would take a very dim view of that symbol. That player's time in practice and on the field would certainly become even more unpleasant, I'm sure.
And companies vary in their rules for how they expect their employees to act when representing the company - always have, always will. The NFL teams could certainly - and DO - enforce rules that would forbid certain displays while in uniform, and their owners' political views could affect those rules. But their choice also will affect the "attractiveness" of their team for the most talented athletes and coaches - so who do they want to alienate by restricting displays?
Trump lauds the "good people" who waved confederate battle flags and Nazi banners in Charlottesville - would you not agree that that display is far more offensive to veterans and other folks who fight for the Stars and Stripes?
2
I offended my wife a week ago and I wanted her immediate forgiveness when I apologized. She wasn't ready to forget the transgression.
As a white man, I want people of color to forgive the transgressions of our dark history, but the pain of racism is still an every day occurrence. Yes, the white majority has passed laws to provide equal rights to all, but the laws cannot erase the prejudice ingrained in our society.
While the flag represents our values of equality and "justice for all", those ideals are not the reality for all our citizens. We have much work to do before the forgiveness we seek can be offered from those so deeply offended by our imperfect history.
39
Rog, and your suggestion is what? Pointing to a issue, even a 300 year-old issue is relevant if you have a suggested solution. If not, why? Don't be a victim, be a leader.
When you offended your wife, you committed a specific transgression. What transgression did you commit in matters of race? Is merely being white a transgression?
2
The pain of racism is an every day occurrence for those who see racism as the basis of every action of others.
How long does it take for the "victim" to take charge of his own life and see others for "the strength of their character" instead of "the color of their skin".
The tragedy in this nation on the issue of race is those that won't let their characters speak for them.
2