I've promoted the boycott of anti-Black hate for quite some time, and how to stop supporting racism. Colin Kaepernick took a knee and all sorts of people disagreed while some of us supported what he was kneeling for. It was powerful because the NFL tends to be the place where Black men are expected to fall in line and be gracious for the opportunity, but the other people kneeling should be gracious for the Black players who honestly make the league what it is today.
Colin wasn't kneeling with his sights set on disrespecting the flag. A flag that doesn't really represent us anyway including the national anthem that was edited to hide the racist roots from which it came to be, but Sistas and Brothas still consider it home. Many of our Brothas and Sistas have even gone to warzones for this country, regardless of the circumstances and come right back home to hate dished out by a lot of people who would never enlist. Kneeling is okay, it lets people know on a large stage what's being represented by these players. Colin kneeled because he grew tired of cops committing criminal acts to harm us, kill us, set us up and even if its caught on camera in most cases, they don't get punished. This isn't a debate about the criminals that aren't cops, its about the ones with the badge and their supporters with the deflection being the flag and our veterans. I've seen veterans missing limbs ask for help because their homeless and get bypassed by non-Black people but some of these people enjoy using them as scapegoats.
Colin did something symbolic, but that wasn't the only thing he did. He used his resources to make an impact. Just like the video below will tell you, you have an option when it comes to impacting racism. President Trump flapped his loose lips of destruction to try and get Black athletes tossed out of the NFL and it revealed something.
Don't give the management of NFL teams praise for kneeling, because they're kneeling (now) for the simple fact that they wouldn't have a solid meal ticket without those Brothas. They could replace them all with non-Black people and I'm sure it wouldn't matter. The NFL wouldn't be the NFL and it would leave room for Black entrepreneur's to create a profitable league to fill the void where the NFL once stood. I say that to say you have more power than you think. The NFL needs these brothas, those are kneels of concern. Those NFL team owners don't want to lose their metaphorical slaves. By the way, college athletes need to be getting paid too because they bring in way too much money and most don't make it to the pros. Their hard work on the field goes on to fund other programs that are sometimes run by racists sometimes teaching racists, but I digress.
Check out the video (again if you've watched it already) and connect the dots in your personal life, because you have the power to do so. Do not go out marching and doing protests, because it's not efficient (that seriously needs to stop). Chances are you are not in the NFL, NBA, MLS, etc. so being out there will only put you in harms way with nothing to show for it. Make your money do the marching out of those stores that support racism and learn how to make it work for you. The money is very important to them, they could careless about the marches beyond using them to demonize us.
Speaking of boycotts, punish the players who have a problem with kneeling too (Black or otherwise). Our job isn't to kiss ass, we have to pave the way so that the future is brighter for our children and their children's children who shouldn't have to deal with the same unpunished abused of the badge. If these people want to kneel, don't just stop there, stand together to get the process started towards punishing police officers. Breaking the oath should come base sentence to make the criminals of law enforcement think twice, which could save tax dollars eaten up by judgements against them.
So let the kneeling be motivation because you have what it takes to make a change.
