A New Icon: Colin Kaepernick

AP photo

By

Don Krieger

Last year during the ceremonial performance of our national anthem, Colin Kaepernick knelt on the field.

This courageous and elegant protest of the selective murder of black men by police triggered a firestorm of protest and backlash which has disintegrated into a propaganda war.

And it is a war which I fear has been lost by the powers of good.

Our President and others have branded these protests a disrespect for America and her flag.

In so doing they have succeeded in marrying nationalism and racism so that any statement referring to disrespect for the flag has become racist code.

The men and women who have sold themselves on the auction block of the professional sports draft/free agent system have ceased to be entertainers and gladiators. With one simple action and the subsequent support he garnered from his fellows, Colin Kaepernick transformed himself and his profession into principled dangerous men and women who infuriatingly remind us in the midst of the spectacle that the world is real and very harsh.

I cannot predict where this will lead other than to battle after battle.

I do not think as I had hoped that this would be the issue on which our President overreached sufficiently to take himself and the Republican controlled Congress down as George Bush did with the Terri Schiavo affair.

One final note: the Pittsburgh Steelers betrayed the love and respect with which they are held by their fans.

During this weekend’s game in Chicago, they remained in the locker room during the national anthem.

In so doing, they failed to take a stand and earned themselves the role of coward.

Everyone despises a neutral.

Don Krieger

I have built satellites, worked in the operating room, been in a cult, …

I earn my living as part of a group which is trying to understand and treat head injury.

In my poetry and short blog pieces, I want to express ideas with unambiguous clarity and intensity.

I willingly sacrifice rhyme and meter, art, cleverness, elegance, and beauty for these.