By Keith D. King
Last Thursday marked the San Diego Chargers final game of the pre-season, but it had the atmosphere of a playoff game. Not because of what was taking place on the field, but what had taken place before a game in the week prior. Colin Kaepernick had been the biggest story maybe in America in the week leading up to the Chargers and 49ers preseason finale due to his decision to not stand for the National Anthem.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag or for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” said Kaepernick in a post-game interview. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Many viewed this as being disrespectful to veterans who have served, past and present. Thursday’s game just so happened to be Military Appreciation Day. There many service members in full uniform, the usual Charger faithful and many fans there in support of Kaepernick toting signs and wearing his jersey. The division in the stadium was obvious. While the National Anthem was played all eyes were on Kaepernick, sporting a fresh blow-out afro. Instead of sitting, he dropped to one knee and was joined by a teammate as well.
The first thing that stood out to me was the fact that the majority of people calling what Kaepernick did disrespectful to veterans were not even veterans themselves. I myself am a Veteran of the U.S. Navy and I had to take a step back and ask myself, ‘why are people speaking on behalf of me and other veterans?’ My second thought was people are getting so wrapped up in the act that they are missing the actual message. My last thought was, isn’t this what our military fight for? For all Americans to have the right of freedom of speech, a right that is supposedly given to us by the First Amendment? During the game and after I went and spoke to some military veterans about their stance in what Kaepernick had done, and how did it make them feel.
I spoke with YN2 (SW) Love, a current active duty member of the U.S. Navy and asked him about his opinion on how big Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the National Anthem had gotten.
“I’m definitely not offended by him not standing, if anything I applaud him. Being a black man in a country that sees my color before they see anything else. The oath I took is to ensure that he has the right of freedom of speech as well as the right to peaceful protest.”
A day later I caught up to Corias Wright, a Navy Veteran and current Head Girls Basketball coach of Serra High School.
“I was actually opposed to him sitting. I respected the message. It’s ok to have a cause and message, but the sitting was disrespectful, and that is how the message can get lost. I applauded him for taking a knee the 2nd time, because that is what we do to show honor for our fallen soldiers.”
I went and spoke to another veteran, and longtime Chargers fan Marques King, and I asked him did he feel disrespected by what had been done by Kaepernick.
“Absolutely not. He exercised his first amendment rights to take a stand. That’s what makes America great”
After the game, Kaepernick spoke to the media.
“The media painted this as I’m anti-American, anti-men-and-women of the military and that’s not the case at all. I realize that men and women of the military go out and sacrifice their lives and put themselves in harm’s way for my freedom of speech and my freedoms in this country and my freedom to take a seat or take a knee so I have the utmost respect for them.”
He later added that kneeling was a gesture of respect to all who had served. Safe to say, that Kaepernick handled the backlash, and spotlight about as good as he could have, especially in San Diego, a military town. It’s also safe to say, that there is a good amount of veterans that are standing with Kaepernick, his freedom of speech, and his willingness to risk losing so much to be a voice for change and equal treatment of all.
