A few weeks back, I wondered When can a church take down a Black Lives Matter flag?
The NFL players protesting the “Star-Spangled Banner” raise the same question, I think. If we assume that their protest is only about police treatment of African-Americans, what are the criteria for declaring victory and ceasing the protest? I hope that everyone can agree that even one citizen mistreated by the police is one too many. Does that mean the protest must continue until there are zero incidents of alleged mistreatment of any citizen with dark skin? Over what period of time?
Or has this morphed into a protest about Donald Trump? So it can stop once the hated Trumpenfuhrer leaves the Reich Chancellery?
Or has it been expanded into a protest against social injustice? Then it has to continue until our society is deemed just?
Related:
Assuming that the purpose of taking a knee is to remind society that certain people have good reasons for being unsatisfied with the status quo, then the tactic can be discontinued once it becomes ineffective (i.e. once people stop paying attention). The struggle against police mistreatment and social injustice must indeed continue until there is none and society is just.
Well, there’s your answer. Society will always be unjust to some powerless minority group, so social injustice will always be present. Taking a knee will have to go on until the heat death of the universe.
Until the next time we get attacked. That always seems to bring us together.
I don’t know what the NFLs answer would be. But I can imagine something analogous to the civil rights act passing in the 60s that might cause protestors to once again start standing for the anthem.
I don’t really know what such an act might be, but the Wikipedia page for the the civil right movement did tell me that addressing problematic police treatment was something that civil rights movement organizers wanted, but did not get, as part of civil rights legislation.
The impending bankruptcy of the league the protest is producing will probably end the protest.
Yes #5, looks like a plan since footbal has long was considered to tough of a sport that used to produce non-whiners and Obama himself voced disaproval of the entire sport.
I was thinking about this today. If I were one of the six who was protesting before the Twit-in-Chief got involved, I’d be strongly inclined to declare victory on “awareness” and shift to something else. A “thank you” ad in a major newspaper (perhaps pointing out the ineffectiveness of divisive tweets), meetings with a couple of lawmakers, an op-ed on what the next steps should be, that kind of thing. Then for the rest of the season, I’d need to head back to my locker to get something around the time of the anthem. So no more pictures of me kneeling, but no pictures of me standing, either. Then in the off season, strategize with my teammates about what to do next season, since it’s unlikely cops will magically quit shooting unarmed black men. Don’t just give up, but accept my victory and look for another way to get attention. And bring it up in every post-game news conference I’m in.
I wouldn’t take these people all that seriously. I doubt 25% of them ever had a triple digit IQ — and that was before they started using their heads as battering rams.
What Jack said (#8).
Although Jack is now going to be know at this blog’s heretofore racist and bigot. How dare you, Jack!!
Personally, I’ve never understood how protesting the SSB has any connection to police brutality. Isn’t a police scandal usually a state or local matter? Are the blacks protesting the CIA or the FBI? I’ve never seen a CIA member shoot or otherwise rough up a black person. Not saying they don’t, but I have not witnessed nor read about such events.
No Phil, this is merely another avenue for left of center types to show their utter contempt for the USA.
PS
If we were allowed to see inside the White House, I bet we’d see Trump smiling, broadly.
And true story:
Within a month of Obama’s reelection, Trump filed to trademark the phrase “Make American Great Again”. Ponder THAT move.
I think he is a teeny weeny bit smarter than his detractors believe.
@Phil,
I think you should file to trademark the word/phrase Trumpenfuhrer! I laugh every time I read that “word”.
Maybe once the DoD stops paying NFL millions for the players to come out during the anthem.
Mark: I can’t claim credit for that one; all praise is due Antonio Garcia Martinez (author of Chaos Monkeys).
When Trump leaves office?!
Now that Congress is also using this as a protest statement [1], it proves that Americans have a very short memory [2].
Btw, does anyone remembers when there was no 24 hours TV? Back then, TV broadcasting would go off the air by playing the SSB over the American flag [3], [4].
[1] http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/sheila-jackson-lee-nfl-protest/index.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Desecration_Amendment
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnchea6LHN0
[4] http://wjbq.com/what-it-looked-like-when-tv-stations-would-go-off-the-air-overnight-video/
If the teams (or individual players) don’t want to participate, let them stay in the locker room. Or, as some wag said, just stare hazily at the sky like Trump does.
Personally, I always say you can never have too many flags. Politicians need to double the number of overlapping flags behind their podium and wear a flag pin on BOTH lapels – “nobody is going to outflag me!!”
As with Hollywood celebrities, the opinions of these athletes shall certainly have a great influence on my life.
philg:
Your question doesn’t sound sincere. Are you actually trying to make a statement? If that is the case, why not make it in the form of a statement?
It is the same with any fight. For example, if you get in a fist fight, and you are winning, how do you know when to stop hitting the guy?
What Jack said (#8).
Although Jack is now going to be know at this blog’s heretofore racist and bigot. How dare you, Jack!!
It’s a reasonable assumption. You don’t often hear such statements about IQ when white athletes do controversial things. What’s interesting is that such racists are often low class losers who aren’t too bright themselves.
The idea that the views of half the population should be disregarded because of something called IQ is interesting. It sounds like something that the one percent would like.
Within a month of Obama’s reelection, Trump filed to trademark the phrase “Make American Great Again”. Ponder THAT move.
I think he is a teeny weeny bit smarter than his detractors believe.
This is another statement that’s interesting. It’s not necessary to be very bright as president. There are plenty of specialist advisers hired to do the hard thinking. And Trump’s intelligence is not high on the list of things that his detractors find objectionable. There’s no question that he certainly hoodwinked much of his WWC base.
NFL players are not protesting the national anthem. They are protesting injustice during the playing of the national anthem. The distinction is so important as to invalidate the question being asked in this post. Please consider editing the post to more accurately reflect the situation.
That’s a good point, Steve. If the players were actually protesting the song itself, the answer to Phil’s question would be obvious.
Maybe they should protest the song: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2014/07/the_star_spangled_banner_four_reasons_it_shouldn_t_be_the_national_anthem.html
(the song comes out of the War of 1812, which we got into because of our shameless refusal to honor the promises we made at the end of the Revolutionary War)
George A. is on the right track. Look no further than Code Pink, the anti-war protest group which was on the nightly news at least once a week when George Bush was president, and then was never heard from again after Obama was elected, though he continued essentially the same policy of intervention in the Middle East. This whole business might have started as a protest against policy brutality, but it very quickly became an indictment of Trump’s presidency. As such, it’s going to be difficult to continue this level an anger for another 7 years in a way that WILL impact ratings and advertising dollars, so this has to morph into something else, in a way that the protesters can still claim victory. Maybe little black bows on sweatbands?
This whole business might have started as a protest against policy brutality, but it very quickly became an indictment of Trump’s presidency.
That’s because he inserted himself into the controversy.
Prediction:
This entire saga will soon be eliminated by the one group that truly controls NFL stuff: owners. They are seeing advertisers begin to withdraw commercials and gate-paying fans stay home. (Cue Jaws theme)
End of protests are close at hand.