I have a way of making people want to keep reading, don't I?
Here's what I have figured out:
Well, wait. First you have to zoom out a bunch. Like 10,000ft. From what? From NFL players, from team owners, from Donald Trump, from the phrase, "SOB," from the American Flag.
Ok. Now that we're way back here... let's say on a puffy, white cloud removed from the nitty gritty ground... ahhh, that's nice. Now, let's look at this THING we've created.
NFL players began a thing last summer. And THAT thing (let's call it Thing #1) was about protesting. It was about protesting the injustices Black Americans face right here, right now.
And then came Thing #2. The disgruntled response by many that NFL players are disrespecting America (there's a variety of symbols for America here: The Flag, The Anthem, The Veterans, The Active Servicemen/women). As far as I understand it, Thing #2 isn't so much about folks believing there is no reason to protest the injustices Black Americans face right here, right now. In other words, Thing #2 does not necessarily oppose Thing #1. It's simply a whole separate thing.
Things #1 and #2 have been real and messy and uncomfortable and division-creating for over a year.
Then comes Thing #3. Thing #3 is only a few days old. President Donald Trump, on Friday and Saturday, scolded NFL players for protesting in the form of kneeling during the national anthem. He furthered his comments by saying that NFL owners of teams should fire those who do so (except swap out "those who do so," with "sons of bitches"). Thing #3 seems to be less about disagreeing with Thing #1 and more about Thing #2, in my estimation. But, nonetheless, Thing #3 became a whole new, different, and life-form-taking thing, because it resulted in a separate display...one that had NFL teams across our great nation scratching their heads over what Sunday morning ought to look like. What it looked like was this: A variety of formats (all arms banded together, all staying in locker room, all body posturing actually different but yet side-by-side) designed to show UNITY. Unity that said, "We don't like what you said, Donald Trump."
Now, let's be clear: Thing #3 is not on the same turf (pun intended) with Thing #1. How many of the individuals (owners, coaches, and/or players) who actively displayed unity on Sunday were protesting the injustices Black Americans face right here, right now? I don't know. I'm sure many were. Which would mean they were actively participating in Thing #1 and Thing #3. But I would argue that many were displaying unity in anger over something different... something more about their leadership, their handling of things, their judgment calls, their personal connection to the NFL being criticized. Trump's comments hit at the top. He was telling people who lead the NFL how to do their jobs. Nobody likes to be slammed in this way. But linking arms to say "We don't like what you said, Donald Trump," is sure different than, "We protest the injustices Black Americans face right here, right now." Could it be that the weekend's events swirled up a whole new tornado, the eye of which is a man, not a decades-long civil rights battle?
No one man deserves a whole tornado for himself.
But wait. WAIT!!! I will not leave you this way. I will NOT! Remember: I've got it figured O-U-T!
This morning in the shower was when my brain compartmentalized the separate-but-related three things. And it was in the shower that I imagined myself edging away from the tornado(es), all the way back to that drifty little peaceful, soft cloud. And it was from that distance that I could see more clearly (Cue Bette Midler's "From a Distance"). In the shower it came to me: LET'S HAVE THING #1 AND THING #2 WORK WITH EACH OTHER, NOT AGAINST EACH OTHER!!! What if the new way "we do" the National Anthem is on a knee? What if "the knee" was not in PLACE of singing the anthem, or gazing at the flag, or thanking our servicemen and women, or displaying reverence to the great nation in which we live. Not in place of at all. In addition to. What if those who proudly sing the national anthem into a microphone did so on a knee? Singing while kneeling? Not protesting what America's anthem is all about. In fact, reinforcing it. "YES, YES we want more land of the brave. YES, YES we want more land of the free," says this gesture. It says, "I want to live here. I want to be a proud American. I want to support anything that promotes justice for all and denounce anything that promotes injustice for any part of the whole. SIGN ME UP, America. I want in on ALL parts of the Star Spangled Banner."
If Thing #1 and Thing #2 would merge, we'd have a mega storm of positive attention on the very things we ALL hold in reverence.
As for Thing #3, I got nothing. Maybe that one-man-circulating-storm will spin out to sea on its own. And I hope the man finds himself safely on an island. With no technology. Where he can't tweet up any more trouble. :)
P.S. I don't watch NFL football. I have a favorite team, but I do not know one player's name, the coach's name, or handy statistics like how many losses in a row they have suffered (spoiler: the team's city is in northern Ohio and their team name has a color in it). In short, I am not attached to the league or the sport in one teensiest of ways. I beg forgiveness for my clear lack of authority on that particular subject matter.
P.S.S. Actually. Expand that apology. I beg forgiveness for my lack of authority on the WHOLE subject. I'd say I've read the things there are to read about this subject matter 29% of the time. Which is an F. But I take a lot of showers, where all my ideas come. Which makes me an authority on hygiene. And ideas.
