As the new NFL season closes in and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick still refuses to stand for the national anthem, solutions from both interested and disinterested parties have rushed forth, at times with the desperation of a Hail Mary.
Some say that the 49ers should demand that Kaepernick stand, or else take steps to dock the pay of the player who back in the spring they seemed likely to trade anyway. Others realise that his complaints may be more than a little legitimate. And there are those who have a horse in neither race who say that while they might not necessarily agree with Kaepernick, they’d gallop to protect the rights of free speech and peaceable protest firmly enshrined in the Constitution.
Social media has offered a characteristically peculiar compromise, which would have the Santa Clara police – the force that patrols the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium – hoist Kaepernick high into the air during the singing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. Conceived as an admittedly awkward show of solidarity, this would place the mixed-race football star figuratively as well as literally above the gathered police officers, but still see the song sang with the player positioned upright.
The Santa Clara police themselves however have taken a harder line, and with guns cocked and raised batons are prepared to storm Levi’s Stadium telling Kaepernick in no uncertain terms, ‘Hands up, don’t sit’. Their hope is that the admonition alone will make the quarrelsome quarterback stand for the national anthem, without the discharge of bullets which may nevertheless, if the perpetrator is not compliant, prove sadly and proportionately necessary.
It was before the preseason game against the Green Bay Packers on 26 August that Kaepernick commenced his protest. Asked why he sat, he stated ‘I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder’.
The Santa Clara police department has clearly taken Kaepernick’s closing sentence personally. Kaepernick meanwhile has continued to sit or kneel at all ensuing preseason games, joined there and elsewhere by other supportive sitters and kneelers. The Santa Clara police initially threatened to stop patrolling the 49ers’ home games, but now the situation appears to have escalated.
Donald Trump responded to events with typical tact and eloquence, saying of Kaepernick ‘maybe he should find a country that works better for him’. Barack Obama instead acknowledged Kaepernick’s sincerity, noting that the player is generating conversation around some important issues. And sensibly the NFL and the 49ers have suggested that while they encourage the celebration of the national anthem, it is up to each individual whether or not they choose to participate.
