Kaepernick and Trump
The United States of America is the greatest country on earth.
Here’s how I know that. If I write the sentence, “The United States Of America is the 聽lousiest country on earth,” I don’t fear that armed Storm troopers will come and snatch me from my keyboard, imprison me, then torture me into allegiance.
I’d have that fear in some other countries.
The U.S. Constitution allows me to speak, or to write, freely without the possibility of governmental sanctions.
That’s the way it’s supposed to be — and is.
I would, however, fully understand that if I did proclaim that this country has serious flaws, and I enumerate them, there would be a fervent backlash.
Colin Kaepernick knows that — and he isn’t backing down.
For that I applaud him.
His refusal to stand for the national anthem, is really taking a stand for something that he truly believes.
He’s no longer just an NFL quarterback. He’s a hero to some, a lightning rod to others — and the source of derision for many.
He’s not unlike a fairly short list of athletes who knew their social conscience wasn’t an easy fit in a country that is quite selective when it comes to protests.
Muhammad Ali, Tommy Smith, John Carlos and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf are among those black athletes who expressed their dissent — and had been told to love or leave the country.
None of them left — and for good reason.
Their protests, as well as Kaepernick’s, were silent.
Meanwhile, we have a presidential candidate who freely takes verbal swipes at the country, at nearly every campaign rally — and he’s rewarded with cheers.
Donald J. Trump has called America a “hellhole.”
He’s wrong. But I’ve never seen anybody suggest he “love or leave the country.”
Trump claims the military, the VA, the economy, the infrastructure and our nation’s schools are so bad — that he, and he alone, can cure all of them. Yet, he’s the Republican nominee.
Kaepernick merely “took a knee,” and he’s being compared to the devil.
“I think president Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history,” said Birther Emeritus Trump back in July.
He says what he says, without the fear of being boycotted.
The difference between Trump’s dim view of the country, and its president, and Kaepernick’s belief that some police officers have engaged in brutality, is that Kaepernick freely owns his beliefs.
Trump, on the other hand, buries his by claiming he’ll “Make America Great Again.”
Which, if you think about it, he’s saying America ISN’T great.
He now avoids talking about his crusade to delegitimize our president back in 2011, with his birther nonsense.
When asked, he simply says, “I don’t talk about that anymore.”
Last week, he appeared on the O’Reilly Factor, and Bill O’Reilly asked him if his Birther past had hurt him with black voters.
“I don’t know. I have no idea. I don’t even talk about it anymore,” he replied.
That’s the answer he might have given if he honestly had no idea why a certain block of the electorate would rather vote for widespread malaria than himself.
Trump is incapable of owning up to his arguable racist past.
And then, he added, “I went to Detroit. It was like a lovefest. We had just a great, great time,” referring to his visit to a black Detroit church.
Trump spoke. He gave an interview. He bobbed to the music like a marionette. Then he left.
He’s not to be confused with Mother Teresa.
There are people who believe that Kaepernick should apologize for his refusal to stand for the National Anthem.
I’d rather see Donald Trump apologize for creating a false campaign against a duly elected U.S. president, and apologize again for thinking millions of black voters would forget that.
He won’t, of course.
He’s not being honest with himself. And he certainly isn’t being honest with the nation’s black voters.
Kaepernick is clearly showing the courage of his convictions.
Trump is clearly showing no courage.
Which, to me, is more American?
Kaepernick!
Edward A. Owens is a three time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net