Kaepernick made it about race the moment he took a knee.
“Kaepernick made it about race the moment he took a knee.”
Kaepernick brought out an attitude and behavior which has been in the shadows - existed but not clearly identified.
I loathed the movie “Remember the Titans” which was based on a high school football team during desegregation. I noted that for the newly desegregated team to become a ‘unified team’ the whites took on the black teammates interests and taste in music. In other words, the whites began the process of acting black. I did not observe any blacks in the movie acting white.
As a teacher I clearly saw this happening (during the 1990’s) to the high school basketball team where I taught. To become a winning team with black & white players, the key white members began to act black.
The coach asked for exceptions to standard procedure for student disruption(s) in the classroom w/o ever demanding improvement of behavior for his (black) athletes. Yes, football coaches asked for the same BUT put ultimatums on the player to improve in the classroom. The BB coach did not place higher expectations on his player(s).
Even the white players speech changed. I really do not think the speech change was intentional but the dress change was purposeful. If a white player was uncomfortable, I clearly worked to fit in.
What was so clearly obvious to me was not visible to anyone else until I pointed it out.
In basketball black culture is dominant and has been since the 1990’s or before. Professional football is not in the midst of a cultural war which has been made obvious with CK and Obama’s race war.
BTW, Trump has pointed out what is going on in the NFL but the desire is spread this throughout every nook and cranny of American society.
What Trump really needs to say is the Flag and Country is greater than any one man who is President and any issue in this country. A refusal to stand for the flag is not disrespecting the President, it is disrespecting Freedom for which this country has fought many wars to defend.