In 2016, Colin Kaepernick was quarterback for the San Francisco 49er’s. During the playing of the National Anthem, he refused to stand and “took a knee,” saying any country who tolerated such racism was not worthy of respect. To me, I saw disrespect to the flag and strongly condemned him. My binary view was the flag versus single-issue activism.
Later, I learned that Colin is a deeply spiritual person, who actually has Biblical scriptures tattooed on his body and has donated millions to charity. His binary view was good versus evil.
I was wrong. I am part of the problem.
This is NOT just another cycle of –> horrible act –> massive rioting –> blame it on the media –> blame it on outside agitators –> find another bright shiny object –> forget –> repeat.
The biggest difference is the unfortunate timing during the heightened emotions and stress of both the coronavirus pandemic and the sudden collapse of the world economy. Another difference is the surprisingly large number of white people participating in the protests. The signs saying “white silence is white violence” certainly rang a bell with me.
