On the EDge: Kaepernick protest proves courage has its price

September 4, 2017 Utah Channel 3

OPINION – Courage has its price.

While we all like to think we would be able to stand up for our principles, regardless of the outcome, I wonder how many of us would be willing to walk away from a mountain of cash to prove a point.

Right now, it is costing Colin Kaepernick a pretty penny.

Kaepernick was a decent quarterback on a lousy NFL team when he decided that he could no longer ignore his conscience.

Last season, Kaepernick began a silent protest against what he termed as police brutality and racial inequality during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said, promising to protest until “the (American flag) represents what it’s supposed to represent.”

In the beginning, he took a seat on the bench as the national anthem played. But, after discussion with former NFL player and military veteran Nate Boyer, Kaepernick decided that instead of sitting during the anthem, he would take a knee, as a show of respect for current and former members of the military.

He has been joined by more than 60 others, through the end of the 2017 pre-season, who have offered gestures from sitting or kneeling during the anthem to placing a hand on a teammate’s shoulder or linking arms on the sidelines, as 30 members of the Cleveland Browns did before their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But, Kaepernick launched the protests, which is why he is unemployed at the moment.

In March, he opted out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers and became a free agent.

The other 31 teams in the NFL have not been beating down his door with offers.

He’s had a few talks with teams here and there, a sort of token representation by a couple of teams – the Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens – but there were no takers.

The NFL has a horrendous image problem right now, the least of which should be Kaepernick.

Players are getting hauled into jail for beating up their spouses and girlfriends.

Players are getting charged with sexual assault.

Some are deciding to end their careers prematurely rather than risk cerebral damage, a growing concern as more and more former players turn up with traumatic brain injuries and cognitive problems as a result of brain damage sustained on the football field. It’s called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative disease believed to be caused by too many blows to the head. A neuropathologist recently completed a study of the brains of 111 deceased NFL players. All but one had CTE.

We’re still seeing NFL players getting hauled into jail for drugs and booze and we still see players and former players picked up for violent behavior – from barroom bawls to murder.

But, Kaepernick is the one being blackballed.

The issue is putting players at odds with owners and fans alike and is an indication of just how deep the racial chasm is in the United States.

Kaepernick broke no laws, no team or league policies.

He harmed nobody.

He displayed exemplary courage to stand up in an environment where individualism is frowned upon, especially if owners think it might interfere with the cash cows that are NFL franchises.

This isn’t, of course, the first time athletes have stood for equality.

There was Muhammad Ali, who lost millions of dollars when he refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army.

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?” Ali said before being stripped of his heavyweight title and banned from boxing for refusing military induction.

There was John Carlos and Tommie Smith, the two Olympians who gave a black power salute as they stood on the medal stand during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

“We were concerned about the lack of black assistant coaches. About how Muhammad Ali got stripped of his title. About the lack of access to good housing and our kids not being able to attend the top colleges,” Smith said years later.

And, there was the venerable Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier on April 15, 1947

“I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made,” he wrote in his autobiography.

In comparison, Kaepernick’s protest is small potatoes.

Colin Kaepernick has pro credentials.

His stats are better than most backup quarterbacks in the NFL and better than some starters.

He is only 29, with, if he remains healthy, many more seasons in him.

But, he doesn’t fit the All-American Boy, clean-cut image of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

He is tall, slender, wears an Afro hairstyle and has tattoos.

And, he is smart enough to not only read an opposing defensive scheme, but to read other books, real books, that go beyond which play works best on third and long.

He has a competitor’s heart, but his courage, as we have seen, extends far beyond the playing field.

Kaepernick had a $126 million contract with San Francisco.

He had the option to renew at the end of last season.

He passed because he was a decent quarterback on a lousy team.

Under most circumstances, a quarterback of his stature would have been snatched up the moment he entered free agency.

But, because he dared to speak his mind, because he didn’t fit the mold, teams are afraid of signing him, even though many in the game have touted his abilities.

Dr. Martin Luther King told us he had a dream.

Kaepernick, however, is showing us how those lofty dreams can be dashed and turned into nightmares.

No bad days!

Ed Kociela is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: edkociela.mx@gmail.com

Twitter: @STGnews, @EdKociela