Kaepernick’s protest about social injustice

Being involved in media and public relations, I watch closely how narratives are shaped, particularly when the subjects are controversial and deal with issues of race.

I was disheartened to see San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit through the national anthem made out by some as “Colin Kaepernick vs. the military men and women of our country.” Not once has Kaepernick spoken ill of the military or those who serve or have served.

Kaepernick spoke out against a system that has resulted in the mass incarceration of people of color; a system that will choose not to invest in economically oppressed/depressed areas through red-lining policies; a system that will uproot schools from urban areas to place them in already flourishing communities.

This is a system that looks the other direction when Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling and many others needed the protection that is supposed to be afforded to every American citizen regardless of race, color, creed or ethnicity.

This system oversaw American citizens in Flint, Mich., ingesting lead-contaminated water – the impact of which could stretch for generations. This is the same system that Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., talked about when he discussed his continued brushes with racism on Capitol Hill. Being of economic privilege or high standing in society has not prevented individuals of color, such as Scott and professional sports figures, from enduring hardships at the hands of racism and systemic profiling.

Could Kaepernick have found a better way to express his thoughts? That is not for me to decide. But what shouldn’t be lost is the push by some in the media to change the narrative about what led a man of color to feel a particular way.

Too many times we’re sold the idea that to love something means you cannot be critical. But to love something is to have the passion, care and concern to be critical and to express those emotions to help bring change.

Conversations about race in America are never comfortable, but we must do better as a country.

This story was originally published September 4, 2016 at 5:05 AM with the headline "Kaepernick’s protest about social injustice."