Colin Kaepernick is on the cover of this week’s Time Magazine. I like everything about this, from Colin’s “taking a knee” position, to the headline “The Perilous Fight.” I wasn’t expecting Colin’s protest of the National Anthem to become such a flash-point over the past few months, but here we are. After all the #HotTakes, it seems like some people actually get it. And some people are actually, finally paying attention to what Colin has been saying this whole time: that he’s protesting the systemic inequalities of America, that he’s protesting the fact that black people are being slaughtered and little to nothing is done about it. You can read Time Magazine’s cover story here, but only if you subscribe to Time (the article is paywalled).
Time Magazine’s spokesperson told TMZ Sports that they chose Colin for their cover because he’s tapped into “the nationwide debate happening around national anthem protests.” They also point out that Colin didn’t pose for the cover – Time simply used a photo from one of his games. It’s also bittersweet timing for the magazine given the one-two gut punch this week with the killings of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa and Keith Lamont Hill in Charlotte. This is why Colin protests. This has always been why Colin protests.
And one of the best takes on the anthem protests came this week from retired Seattle Seahawk Marshawn Lynch. Lynch appeared on Conan O’Brien’s show and Conan asked him directly about his thoughts on the protests.
Marshawn Lynch gave his thoughts on Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem. pic.twitter.com/9RNm5SG3gm
— SportClips (@SPORTCLlPS) September 22, 2016
Yeah. “I’d rather see him take a knee than stand up, put his hands up, and get murdered. Sh-t’s got to start somewhere. I just hope people open up their eyes to see there’s really a problem going on, and something needs to be done for it to . And I mean, if you’re really not racist, then you’re going to see what he’s done, what he’s doing, [not] as a threat to America, but just addressing a problem that we have.” Co-sign.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Time Magazine.
Marshawn Lynch’s answer was perfect. If you live it, you get it. Meanwhile, that mess of a white woman named Kate Upton is getting dragged on her Insta. Especially with her equal mess of a boyfriend Justin posted some asinine pic of him standing up with an equally mundane caption about ~respecting our troops~ hurrdurrdurr. Cancel her already please.
I know I’m not saying anything new, but, there are many military veterans who support Kaepernick. They fight/fought for his/our right to stand or sit or kneel. I detest faux patriots who think that wearing a pin on their lapel makes them true patriots. They’re, usually, chicken-hawks, hypocrites, draft-dodgers (or people who have never served).
The guy earns $19 million a year, he’s half white and was raised by white parents. He doesn’t know a thing about being being a poor black, living in areas where drive-by shootings are commonplace.
There’s many successful black people because they worked for it.
@ mare
So what if he hasn’t experienced it? so instead of him having a heart and caring about other people, he should just stfu? What if he gets pulled over by the cops? Aren’t they just gonna see him as some n@gger? They’re not gonna go, oh he was raised by white parents. He has money, we wont shoot him. None of his background will save him from some taoist cop. You dont have to be disadvantaged yourself to stand up for other people. People give to domestic violence programs, should they stop unless they were a victim of domestic violence? When racist people look at him, they see a n@gger. So don’t even try to play like he can’t emphasize cause he hasnt experienced it
@ mare
I don’t understand your point.
Kaepernick has every right to sit out the anthem… regardless of his circumstances. He’s making a peaceful protest/statement.
His former teammate, Richard Sherman, has a great thought as well. If you can find his press conference, please do.
I love Richard Sherman!
I thought he was amazing in that press conference.
I haven’t watched it yet – but I figured Sherman would be great.
It seems like the players, and the organization, have really thought about what they wanted to say and what they were going to do to contribute to the ongoing discussion. I’m proud of the way they are approaching this.
http://www.seahawks.com/news/2016/09/12/seahawks-hope-build-bridge-follow-through
Dara, here it is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/richard-sherman-police-shootings_us_57e303bfe4b0e28b2b521b2a
CONTINUE BEING BLACK AND EXCELLENT BAE✊🏾 We See You, We Love you for putting the whole before the self and inspiring us all , Also i’m always never ready for how very Black and Real and amazing Marshawn is at being Marshawn in public
#ProtectBeastModeAtAllcosts #ProtectKaepatallcosts #blacklivesmatter
This is a great cover and an important issue to address. I have to admit that I didn’t know if it would have much of an impact at first but, in hindsight, it seems like a brilliant protest (and, unfortunately, far too timely with yet another round of shootings this week). Good for him and good for all the athletes who are getting it (and I’m glad it gives people like Kate Upton a chance to the rest of us show how truly privileged/ignorant they are). Keep up the good fight, Colin! #BlackLivesMatter
Co-sign indeed. Full support for this, and so proud of the NFL players for taking this stand!
I’m right there with you #IkneelwithKaepernick
I love that some NFL players are kneeling to take a stand.
You mean a knee…☺️
I hope he and others can keep the conversation going. There is so much white ignorance out there and I’m ashamed to say many that I know won’t listen to what POC are saying. They paint BLM as a terrorist group and call the Charlotte demonstrators “terrorists” and can’t hear the frustration and anger over the systemic racism that continues to exist in “the land of the free”.
I’m so proud of the kids and coaches in our schools that are taking a knee, despite the threats from school officials to cancel games, suspension… even death threats. They were given the legal right to not participate in the pledge back in 1943 by the Supreme Court and I hope they keep using their right to protest injustice.
I fear more for the fate of minorities in our country than anything else if Trump the Racist is elected in November. I just hope there are enough affected and socially conscious voters to keep him out.
It’s not just you guys, you know. Look at this video of a Met police officer at a traffic stop – WTF? Wouldn’t like to see him patrolling the streets while in possession of a gun. (In case you can’t tell from the accent, the driver is black).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-37396039
On other sites, the same BTL comments “well, the driver must have done SOMETHING”. So many people refuse to believe the evidence of their own eyes. It’s shameful.
That just makes my blood boil. Do coppers get disciplined there when they’re busted for acting like that or do they generally get away with it, like here?
I hope that by charging Terence Crutcher’s shooter with manslaughter instead of 1st degree murder that they can actually get a conviction. When they go for the greater charge, cops always get off.
Someone like that is just not fit to be patrolling the streets with the power of authority, is he? This guy is currently suspended while the Met (London police force) investigates. I think he will probably be sacked but is unlikely to be prosecuted.
Like most social problems on both sides of the Pond – similar to you but perhaps not quite as acute. We have the same blue line but not often quite as outrageously unjust. Don’t forget the London riots in 2011 were sparked by the police shooting of a black man, which was eventually ruled legal in court.
The Met has a particularly bad reputation. I’ve been talking to my cousin (he lives in Houston) about the differences over the past week – I wondered if it was just that one country has police with guns and the other doesn’t and if we did there would be as many bodies, but he added into the mix that traffic stops are more common stateside because they are seen by local authorities as revenue generators, which doesn’t happen here. So perhaps it’s just that there’s fewer incidents to go wrong? But I can assure you black Londoners have little more confidence in their police than black Americans do in theirs.
Yes, policing for profit was #6 on Shaun King’s list of 25 solutions to eradicate police brutality, along with requiring 4 year degrees, adding more women to the force, regularly testing cops for PTSD, filming cops immediately after any use of force incident and requiring independent review boards to oversee cases of officer misconduct.
Well, maybe my cousin is onto something then as we really don’t have that. We don’t have a problem with money bail either and I notice that was one of the big things to put right in the BLM manifesto I read. It’s here if you want to read it yourself: http://policy.m4bl.org. It’s a great document and a brilliantly clear platform.
Just y’know. Don’t think of it as a uniquely American thing because we have mirrored problems of our own here. As the charming PC Savage (that is actually his name, believe it or not) above vividly demonstrates.
Thanks… I’ll look at that. Yes, the bail system is so unfair to poor defendants and the cost of keeping them incarcerated for misdemeanors and non-violent offenses seems pretty ridiculous as well as primarily having punitive purposes.
I’m not into football whatsoever but just know this whole thing has made me colin k’s number 1 fan!! This took tons of courage and bravery. Thank you colin for using your platform to give us a voice!
Same, Sh*t To be a 100% I fall asleep at every Game, But I’m currently looking for whatever Cute Merch of his I’m going to Rock, I’m Rooting for him to win at Life, Followed every single Guy and Woman that sat down/raised a Fist/took a Knee in solidarity! Love them all for this
I’m heading from Toronto to Las Vegas and I already know this will be my last trip to the States for a long time.
As a Black woman I just don’t feel like I am safe period. Someone attacks me and I wouldn’t call the police. The majority I know are fine law abiding but the minority who shot first at the first opportunity scare me.
I’ve been to Turkey and several European countries and never felt as uneasy as I do in the States.
When news of Terrence’s murder hit the web, I was at work. One of the delivery drivers said that he saw me walking home and I was on a mission. I said that I am a black woman in America who is watching her fellow black Americans getting gunned down for their skin color. So yeah, I do not have the privilege of stopping to smell the roses. That shut him up, that day was not the day.
Ya know, in checking on my peeps yesterday for the first time in ever I got Two “Im ready to move somewhere else another country Period. I’ve got Children, Racism I can live with and I get is everywhere, the State killing citizens daily almost for sport now with no consequence when I’m just trying to raise black babies with some semblance of worth and self esteem Is TOO MUCH”
I really do Pray for the Hearts of mothers and fathers and Pregnant ladies with Black and a Brown Children rn cause Raising Kids is hard as is … sh*t Being an adult Black Woman now is HARD when all over the place you get the messages you get and I’m on my own, an adult, HOW does this Fear work on a Parent??? UGH
Yeah, I’m a WOC, also from Toronto and I’m avoiding travel to the U.S. unless I absolutely have to for work. I’ve had the ‘go back where you came from’ comment a couple times when I’ve visited – in Florida, about 25 years ago and I was able to laugh it off but now? It feels way more threatening.
This is so heartbreaking to hear. Just know that there are white Americans who are ashamed that you have been made to feel this way, and would never ever mistreat you for your skin color. I hope some day we fix all of our shit and you never feel like you are uneasy or afraid to come here any more.
Every time I hear from a person of color about the hardship and fear it makes me MORE AND MORE resolved to be a good ally as a white person, to listen to you and to not sit idly by when I see/hear other white people being racist through intent or ignorance.
I realized that I had let my subscription lapse and got myself another one. I will be purchasing this issue when it comes out.
such a brave American hero
@itdoesmatter. FYI He was dumped by his white mother who refuses to tell him who is black father is. Pleas stop trolling ! Not a good look on you. SMH
So because it doesn’t affect him stay quite? Because you are uncomfortable with his message? Too early for your foolishness !
Colin’s birth mother is white and father is black. Colin identifies as a black man and he is seen as a black man and not bi racial. He is tired of seeing his fellow black man getting guned down for their race.
If you are going to troll, be good at it.
Edit: Noticed you changed your comment when you were flat out wrong to something ‘sarcastic’. Okay Sweet Pea.
How does he feel about the rioting and destruction of property that’s currently going on? Why doesn’t he make a comment about that?
Not intelligent enough?
Irony?
Pretty ironic, actually, that you’re insulting his intelligence while failing to recognize the fact that he’s protesting like this BECAUSE of his privilege. He has a platform and power that Terrence and Trayvon and Eric and so many others never did. He’s using it to make sure we keep paying attention to THEIR stories.
I guess you think that when a man’s community is hurting and people who look like him are dying, but *he* is relatively safe (news flash: even rich and famous black men get profiled by cops), then he should just ignore his community and enjoy the spoils of success? I’m sorry this black man isn’t so blindly grateful to his white family (the mom who abandoned him was white too, though…) that he sits back and pretends the whole country is fine.
By the way, that’s exactly how people protested the civil rights movement. “They have their freedom, why can’t they just be grateful?”
Yes! Brittney B. Come through with the facts.
His biological mother is white and if a poor nobody was protesting no one would see who better to highlight the problem than someone with visibility?
Just face it you want black people to shut up and put up with all the indignities that are meted out to them for centuries till today, when black people are poor they should shut up because bootstrap /need to work harder blah blah
Yet When black people are privileged they also should shut up ….So who should speak except for you that is ?????
I see the original sarcastic comment about “poor, privileged rich-kid Colin” that I was responding too was deleted or changed. I’ll leave my response here anyway…
That sounds like something my ignorant WHITE friends and family members would say. You are part of the problem.
You don’t have to be black and underprivileged to see that there’s systemic racism here in America. You don’t have to be a POC to make a peaceful statement about racial injustice. Colin, by virtue of being half-black is still not treated the way a white person is, regardless of the opportunities he had by virtue of his family.
I’m white and I’ve taken steps to educate myself on the issues of social justice, despite never personally experiencing what poor or minorities have. All It takes is LISTENING to what they are saying and seeking to understand. It’s called exercising empathy — the ability to understand and feel another feelings for yourself. Maybe you should try practicing it.
How painful for you to see him looking so utterly heroic in the Time image. My condolences to you.
ETA – also noting OP has changed.
I’ve noticed from your recent comments that you’re probably just a troll, so you aren’t worth the effort.
Didn’t this poster say something equally ridiculous on the MJ thread? Rude.
Aw Someone came to the wrong Forum and QUICKLY got disabused of the notion this was gonna be acceptable and then QUICKER STILL edited to what they consider “Cute Sarcasm” .. Adorbs!, Back to your Bridge you go
( I kinda Love how very Swiftly ya’ll gathered this one and the actual edited Comment, Truly)
QQ, I was raised in a very white, conservative and ignorant environment, so my education came way too late in life. I still have a lot to learn, but following Shaun King at The New York Daily News got my head out of the clouds so I could see what was going on in my country. What an eye-opener.
I like what Awesome Luvvie has to say too. I had to repost this on social media (much to the chagrin on many family and friends) when I read it the other day:
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2016/09/white-people-anti-racism.html
Well! Go Off ! Look at You Learning and educating Others! ( and Luvvie is just good Taste!)
Thank you QQ, and also thank you Bonzo for sharing. I went to the link and while I still have lots to learn it was an awesome place to start.
You again? You’re so boring.
He is bringing awareness to a very real problem, and doing so in the most peaceful manner possible. It is his right as an American to protest, to speak freely. Blind patriotism is unAmerican.
What a lot of folks don’t realize is there’s a difference between patriotism and nationalism. Both can be proud of their country, but one is able to see the flaws and call upon it to be better, the other assumes what’s done is above reproach and blindly follows. One leads to feeling responsible for making change, the other leads to war and oppression.
I can’t even have a conversation with some of my co-workers because they say “I have friends and family in the military”. That doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with what he is trying to say and my Dad was in Navy and he supports Colin so not EVERY vet feels that his/her service is dishonored by someone taking a knee. But people love to tell others how unpatriotic their actions are.
Bre, you can remind them that military personal take an oath to defend the Constitution, which includes their First Amendment rights to free speech, joining with fellow citizens in protest or peaceful assembly.
This is why so many vets came out in SUPPORT of Colin and used the hashtag #vetsforkaepernick.
Being patriotic doesn’t mean being blind to our faults as a nation. It means loving your country enough to criticize and find solutions for making it better. We ALL have to thrive for our country to truly be great, because my happiness in being free is tied to seeing others be free as well.
I don’t support or follow the NFL at all (their handling of domestic violence and head injury issues has been disgusting) but this is a story that deserves as much attention as possible.
Oh and as far as the “sacred anthem” argument goes. I have been to other sporting events, strange how many see no problem with making a beer run during the anthem isn’t it?
Ha, good point. I am sickened by all the people in my FB feed defiantly posting anti-Colin articles and memes. The willful ignorance and hypocrisy is mind boggling.
Esmom, I’ve had to unfollow a bunch of people on FB and add several outspoken ignoramuses to my restricted group so I don’t have to hear their conservative, racist Fox News clap trap whenever I post something about curbing gun violence or racial inequality.
When I posted something about the need for white people to truly listen to what POC are saying one of them had the audacity to spew that BLM is a terrorist group!! I’m like, look at their website and their public statements, ya moron and get off my effin’ comment section!
I haven’t been to an NFL football game in ages – but part of me wants to go to one now just so I can sit firmly on my a$$ while the anthem is played. Partly to show solidarity with the players that are kneeling, and partly just to piss off all the ignorant hypocrites that might take offense. The people that have a problem with this sort of protest stubbornly won’t admit that it is as much a part of our country – and probably the more sacred part – than some song will ever be.
p.s. Everyone should look up the original verses that have been cut from the anthem, if they haven’t already. Once I did, I think it’s pretty damn appropriate that racial inequality is being protested during its playing.
Yeah, I read that line this week… I don’t think I’d ever seen it before. Very racist, indeed.
It’s perfectly understandable that someone would not participate in a pledge that doesn’t reflect the reality of liberty and justice for all. I wouldn’t participate either, if given the opportunity.
Football players always look way too serious when they observe the anthem. Lighten up guys. It’s just a game.
While I hate what is going on in our country with police brutality and murder, and not understanding how to get through to police men and women and their organizations that this must change- Mr. Kaepernick and Mr. Lynch make me proud to be an American.
The First Amendment grants us the rights to practice whatever religion we choose, that the govt will not encourage or deny any certain religion, that we have the right to free assembly- to get together and discuss our needs in our communities, the right to a free press (unencumbered by corp greed or government), and the right to speak freely, without government suppression.
It is our right as citizens of the United States to vocalize our agreement or disagreement with Mr. Kaepernick’s peaceful protest.
But it is not our right to demand he shut up.
I wish I could make the state govt of North Carolina shut the fuck up with their vile bigotry, but they get to speak too- even in their bigotry and ignorance of everyone who is not a straight white man.
Please, citizens of North Carolina, and around the country, get involved, REGISTER TO VOTE, vote in your state and local elections, and throw these relics of bigotry out of office.
This great nation makes us powerful. We have the power to change the government. From the President of our nation, to the state senates, mayors, clerks of court, etc.
Voting matters.
Well said!
The attention this has been getting is amazing. The negative comments rarely have anything substantial to say, they vary from “Get out of America” to “you’re making millions from the NFL”, between the comments and the recent police related shooting and murders it reinforces his point.
Some people REFUSE to understand what’s going on, you could spend the rest of your life explaining it but they just won’t listen to anyone outside of their bubble of faux-patriotism. At this point, it’s like “are you mad? are you uncomfortable? Perfect.”
GOOD for Colin and all of these other athletes who are taking a stand for what they believe in and not letting themselves be deterred by things like a sponsorship or their ‘superiors’.(Looks at Cam Newton.)
Yes! Yes! I don’t follow football but what he’s doing is SO important. As for Marshawn’s statement if I had a tambourine, I’d shake it like I was in church and he’d just delivered a soul cleansing sermon. #ISUPPORTKAEPERNICK #BLACK LIVES MATTER.
He should absolutely continue to make his stand. It’s uncomfortable for folks who think it’s problematic…so? Racism needs to be addressed, not swept under the carpet. I feel for him because I am a minority in my country. Our pledge has the words ‘regardless of race, language or religion’ but systematic racism is alive and well even after half a decade of independence and I skip saying my pledge especially when independence day celebrations come around. The US is even older. It is time to move forward. It is not about being unpatriotic. If he did not care about America, he wouldn’t bother!
When black boys are born
We mothers kiss their faces
Twirl our fingers in their curls
Put them in carriers on our chest
Show them to the world
Our tiny black princes
And when they start school
As early as 3
We mothers
Place huge back packs on their backs
And we slowly fill them with bricks
Etched with tools
Tattooed with truths
Hoping to save them
Don’t talk back
Don’t get angry
Say yes ma’am
Say no sir
Don’t fight
Even if they hit you first
Especially if they are white
Do your best
Better than best
Be still
Worker hardest
BRICK
they get a little older
And we add more
Keep your hands out of your pockets
Don’t look them in the eye
Don’t challenge
Don’t put your manhood before your life
Just get home safe
Don’t walk alone
Don’t walk with too many boys
Don’t walk towards police
Don’t walk away from police
Don’t buy candy or ice tea
Don’t put your hood up
I’ll drive you
I’ll pick you up
You can’t be free
Don’t go wandering
Come home to me
BRICK
They get a little older
And we add more
Understand you are a threat
Standing still
Breathing
Your degrees are not a shield
Your job is not a shield
Your salary makes you a target
Your car makes you a target
Your nice house in a nice neighborhood
Makes you a target
Don’t put your ego before your safety
Don’t talk back
Don’t look them in the eye
Get home to your wife
Your son
BRICK
They weigh them down.
This knowing
Of having to carry the load
Of their blackness
the world hasn’t changed
The straps just dig deeper into their skin
Their backs ache
But their souls don’t break
Our beautiful black men
When you say to me
All lives matter
I simply ask
Will your son die with the world on his back
Mine will
-Lesle’ Honore’
Powerful, beautiful words that highlights a stark, heartbreaking truth. Thank you for sharing this.
Chills
This is just beautiful in an awful way, and made me cry. Those who are mothers know the feeling when a precious baby is born. To have to load them up with bricks on their back, just so they can survive would break one’s heart, over, and over, and over. Thank you, noodle for writing this, it encompasses the BLM movement in a nutshell. There are still so many battles to be fought, but human empathy is one of the best weapons good hearted people have, and hopefully things will change for the better, they simply HAVE to!
As a mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, niece, cousin, friend to black men this is how me and many other black women feel everyday.
Thank you for sharing this. That is a beautiful piece of heartache put to words.
Noodle, I’m crying. So powerful. This pain runs so deep.
Every single day I pray that my sweet, loving black husband makes it home and I freak out if he’s even a minute past the usual arrival time. So scared.
thank you, everyone!
came upon these words this morning and broke down crying. have been carrying them with me all day.
i can only hope and pray things change for the better soon and people are held accountable.
@Almondjoy, I’m sorry. all the best to you and your loved ones.
Thank you for sharing this.
I’ll add, a St. Louis police officer was caught on video planting a gun into a black man’s car after he killed him. This happened in 2011. He’s on video saying that he’s going to kill him.
See, things like this have been going on for years, but now we just have more ways to spread videos thanks to social media.. Can you imagine the amount of innocent black people are in jail because of a crooked cop and the system not believing them?
A change has to come soon, because I have a really bad feeling about what’s going to happen next in the US.
I’m an attorey based in Chicago. 4 years ago, my law firm filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago police department for the wrongful death/murder of a Chicago black man. I can’t tell you the name of the victim or his family, but what I can tell you is the facts of the case are absolutely appalling. The victim was unarmed, and non-combative, yet was shot 3 times by a white Chicago police officer. The officer’s dashcam on his patrol car caught the entire incident on tape: the officer assumed our client’s son was an area drug dealer because he was in a bad neighborhood on the South Side. He ordered the victim on the ground and the victim complied. Then, in full view of the camera, while the victim was lying face down with his hands and feet spread out in plain view, the officer walked a semi-circle around the victim. He then stoppped and shot our client’s son once in the back and twice in the back of the head. It was an obvious case of 1st degree murder, yet the Chicago police department, I KID YOU NOT, ruled the shooting a “justifiable homicide.” The officer had also shot and killed another man, also black, just 4 months earlier and wasn’t even supposed to be on active duty with his gun. He was supposed to be restricted to desk duty. It wasn’t until the tape got leaked to the media by someone from the department with a conscience that the Justice Department dispatched a task force to investigate the Chicago police department’s policy of dealing with on-duty shootings. They launched full scale investigation. This was prior to BLM so the shooting didn’t even make the local or national news. This crap happens sadly far too often with nothing done by the various departments. The Internal Affair’s Bureau is a freaking joke. Officers cover each others asses all the time and having been doing forever. Why do you think they’ve been so resistent to the idea of implementing body cameras on all officers? Guys like Colin are helping to raise the profile of these issues to the masses who have previously either not known about this or not cared. Anyone who says he should just be grateful to be an American is completely missing the point. It’s probably pretty hard to be a grateful black American when you’re gunned down on a daily basis simply for existing.
As I said on the Brange thread, I’m feeling really emotional these so bear with me..
Reading the comments from our wonderful black commenters on the Gabrielle Union thread yesterday left me with such a sorrowful feeling.
Privilege = being able to distance yourself from what is going on with black people in this country. And I like to think of myself as an ally who fights but I will never ever get it the way black people do. I can’t imagine how tired, weary, distrustful and just SAD PoC must feel while witnessing the death of YET another unarmed black person.
And while it troubles me and hurts my heart, the truth is that I can put it away before I go to sleep at night while black people are LIVING it 24/7. It is inescapable for them.
Again, privilege.
I had a weird thought on my run this morning about how strange the world is. It’s almost like there’s a civil war happening between people who want change, people who long for equality and peace, and those that want to regress, to legislate fear, to perpetuate and sustain racism and xenophobia….it’s like the age-old battle of Good Vs Evil with Trump at the helm.
I like to think of younger generations as being representative of how great our country could be. I want to think of the changes that have been made even in the past decade in terms of accepting the LGBTQ community. I want to believe that kids who are being raised today want for more than the older generations. But I just don’t know….I fear for the future with the way things are going and I fear for the world that we’re creating for our children. But I still faithfully cling to the hope that we can get better with the help of new generations breaking down walls and barriers and LISTENING and learning.
Sorry for the rambling….I’m just sad.
I wish I would have waited 5 minutes before posting to read this, you always express things well.
Thank you so much, Grey.
How you feel about Trump is how I feel about Brexit. It’s not the in or the out of the EU – it’s the permission it’s given to my country to devolve instead of evolve. And like you, I’m the privileged one who won’t really suffer.
YES. So many parallels between Brexit and the devolution of American society.
The recent terror attacks, the racial injustices both big and small, the rape culture that is thriving on our college campuses and beyond…this world is no longer familiar to me. There is no comfort or solace in this existence, yet I still grasp tightly to the idea that this isn’t it for us.
Because I cannot and will not accept that we can’t be better.
Kitten, I give you this.
http://twitter.com/NIROMIAN/status/779355460314894336
Look at those gorgeous – and diverse! – kids!
Also, that tweet made its way into my feed via a retweet by an entirely non-political Brit I happen to be friends with and who usually concerns herself with cat gifs and the like. Despite the awful people, it *is* cutting through. People *are* seeing. It’s not hopeless. Honest.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
I hear ya, Kitten. I’ve had the sads all week as I contemplate the state of our country and what may be in store for us in the future if we can’t steer the ship in the right direction.
Me too, Bonzo. And big ups to all your comments on this thread. Yes to everything, my friend.
Thanks so much, Kitten. I’m so sad but I’m happy that you’re not only listening but you also understand. That’s so important. And it’s really all I ask. I appreciate you.
♥ Almond
Honest talk… A few years ago I completely did not get it. Didn’t see that as a white person I had a privilege that was just unspoken. I have never had to worry about walking down the street or driving with a burned out taillight. I don’t know what it was, but it was like a light clicked on in my head. It is NOT ok for things to be happening in our world the way they are, and BLM is not a terrorist group, people who think that are missing the point. I respect and admire the hell out of people who take a stand and do so publicly. I cheer for the Broncos and Brandon Marshall has also been taking a knee, and to read the comments people make about him on social media and otherwise make me so filled with rage. My question is, what is the next step? How do I get more involved? I genuinely want to learn and not contribute to the racism in the world by being silent if there is a place for me to speak and help. I am not in the States but I think that people all over the world can come together to make a difference.
Isn’t it strange that a black man can’t drive without getting murdered by the police but the police can somehow miraculously not shoot to kill a terrorist suspect….
Yes!!! This^^^^
Him not standing for the national anthem isn’t disrespectful to the American troops. But taking his right away to peacefully protest against police brutality base on his social status and ethnicity is, that’s being disrespectful to what our troops protect and DIED for. I am glad the message is getting stronger.
I’m loving these comments! So many ppl are woke now compared to earlier articles about this same topic. And I hope those that are refusing to hear what we are saying, those that remain ignorant by choice continue to stay away.
Right wingers and faux patriots are such idiots. My opinion when Kap first did his protest was, he sure had every right to do so. For me I was supportive but hardly excited or inspired; just another need voice for the cause adding to all the others about an important issue that needs to be addressed. Well, d’uh. It wasn’t a shock nor an outrage to me, but because of that I was ready to move on pretty soon after but with all the attention by everyone else on the radio and sports stations it wouldn’t go away. I admit it, Just give me football, damn it. But that’s the thing, these idiots are the ones who keep Collin’s protest aims alive. So despite my annoyance, I have to laugh at these guys who think they are doing anything but proving Collin’s message that much more resonant and timely.
Good Comment – showing how a footballer’s almost ignored protest gesture (however well or ill conceived it may have been in the beginning) has now sharpened focus on many important issues: institutional racism, bad policing and training programs, and the intersection of sport and, well, life.
I am so sad but I also like we are at a tipping pointi in this country. To quote president Obama, the best disinfectant is sunlight ..
“Privilege = being able to distance yourself from what is going on with black people in this country. ”
Privilege= also being able to distance yourself from what your government and military is doing to people outside of your country and saying:, Ah well, at least they’re not as bad as Trump.
Glad you continue to report on his amazing act of bravery and activism even if you don’t agree with it. I will admit when I heard about it I had a smile on my face because of my pleasure and hope that it would promote a different way of thinking. However, you said you were disappointed that he used his unique opportunity to protest for racial equality in the way he did. I thought, what other way would you prefer? I’m glad it’s getting the continued attention it needs. I hope that there are big changes because of it.