Patriotism Or Equality

In an article about former Steelers' great and veteran Rocky Bleier and his view of the National Anthem protests, Bleier states that the situation should have 'never gotten to this point' (click here for the article). The point that Bleier is lamenting over is that players are protesting during the playing of the National Anthem. In his opinion, this should not be the case because players do not have a free speech right to protest then because they are at work. And while Bleier also sees fault with the owners, I have to say that I agree with him but for different reasons.

The National Anthem protests should have never become such a big controversy. Why? It is because the patriotic fervor that causes people to react so strongly against the kneeling protest should have never reached such a high level. That fervor transforms patriotism into a religion. And that is occurring in a nation where people are fond of wearing their religion on their sleeves.. All that makes the attempts to punish those players who don't show patriotism in the same way as Bleier or even don't feel patriotic at all, the latter includes me, into an inquisition based on nationalism. That makes it a secular inquisition.

But even much more important than the patriotism turned religion problem, things should have never gotten to where they are today in terms of the racism that so doggedly persists in our nation. And what Bleier thinks should have never gotten this far indicates, in both Bleier and those who agree with him, that too many privileged people in our nation, and by privileged people I mean whites especially those who are part of the middle or high economic class, live in a well insulated bubble. Why is it that so many of us white people are too eager to change the subject of the National Anthem protests to that of disrespecting the flag and those who fought waving it? Why does nonconformity in how some react to the playing of the National Anthem cause us more concern and, perhaps, makes us feel more threatened than the varying significant levels of racism that has plagued our nation from the beginning?

Why do so many of us think that it is far more virtuous to stand for the playing of the National Anthem than it is to care about those fellow Americans who are being systemically oppressed and even persecuted? Is being patriotic opposed to working for equality? That seems to be the message we communicate when we express more concern about protesting the flag than we say about the racism being opposed during the playing of the National Anthem. In fact, American history shows that equality has always played, at best, 2nd fiddle to patriotism in our nation.



 


references

1. https://sports.yahoo.com/steelers-icon-vietnam-vet-rocky-bleier-nfl-protests-never-gotten-point-182928379.html
2.