Even though many National Football League players, plus some coaches and owners, have championed Colin Kaepernick’s insult to the nation’s flag, he is no hero. As of this writing, he’s also no longer an NFL player.
Kaepernick is the self-serving individual whose refusal last year to stand during the playing of the National Anthem and the simultaneous honoring of the American flag has spawned similar demonstrations throughout the NFL. Kaepernick sought to draw attention to himself by claiming his action constituted a response to cops killing black Americans. He offered himself as a symbol for what he contends is a form of deadly racism. He has become a hero to the Black Lives Matter movement.
We know of no complaint this man has ever registered about black babies being slaughtered via abortion. Approximately 15 million have been butchered since the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for murder in the womb in 1973. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a supporter of such carnage, noted in 2017 that pregnant black women are five times more likely to kill their unborn child than white women. BlackGenocide.org has pointed to an older Howard University study noting that black women over 50 who have had an abortion are five times more likely to develop breast cancer than those who have never submitted to the grisly practice. If Kaepernick is completely unaware of such facts, he has been victimized by the news media that now supplies him with inordinate amounts of attention.
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Kaepernick is the son of a white woman and a black man. His biological father took off immediately after finding out that he had fathered a child. Kaepernick’s mother, realizing her inability to care for her baby, carried him to term, and immediately placed him up for adoption. A white couple answered the call, raised him, gave him the Kaepernick name, and provided care for close to 20 years. Kaepernick is surely not a victim of racism.
Having attracted huge amounts of attention through his initial refusal to honor the flag and the anthem, Kaepernick upped the ante by later wearing socks carrying a portrayal of policemen characterized as pigs. He never mentioned the five Dallas policemen who were deliberately sought out and murdered by a black sniper. Nor did he speak out about the black murders of scores of fellow blacks that have become routine in Chicago.
To date, the NFL’s officials have refused to condemn the actions of players, coaches, and owners who have chosen to follow the Kaepernick lead. The league has stiff rules against wearing ads on their uniforms or demonstrating “excessive” joy after scoring a touchdown. There are even penalties for not having one’s shirt properly tucked in. Should not loyalty to country be expected of millionaire players, owners, and coaches?
Claiming that the entire matter should be judged, not by a racial test but by the answer to a single question, columnist Pat Buchanan asks: “Do players, before games, have a right, as a form of protest, to dishonor and disrespect the flag of the United States and the republic for which it stands?” If so, he and others contend, then the NFL should start preparing for plenty of fans who will find something else to do with their dollars and their time when the NFL takes the field.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against former high school football coach Joe Kennedy who made it a practice to gather the players for silent prayer before a game. Kennedy was fired, appealed to get his job back, but was rebuffed by the federal court. Still, Kaepernick is a hero to many.
Patriotic and religious expressions are under attack. Ultimately, the values that made our nation the envy of the world are the targets. Resistance to such a campaign is needed. It is Kaepernick and those who honor him who should be shunned, not the flag and the national anthem.
John F. McManus is president emeritus of The John Birch Society. This column appeared originally at the insideJBS blog and is reprinted here with permission.
