We Don’t Need to Be in the NFL to Take a Knee or a Stand

SNM, Esq.
Sep 28, 2017
3 min read

What’s this with the National Anthem?

It’s a song, presumably, about American ideals, though a closer look takes us right into the depths of slavery.

Taking a knee is an act of grace and respect that requires us to take a second look, to assess where we are in our United and/or divided States of America.

When Kaepernick knelt, Barack Obama was our President.

Colin sat then knelt against violence and police brutality against Black people.

He also supported and promoted a non-vote for the Presidency, a position I was and am still staunchly against.

However, despite his faulty position, he tried.

He stood for something and now others stand or kneel in his place.

We could argue that the lack of voting amongst Black men, in particular, has forced the relevancy of his position to an even more vital place that continues to threaten lives and now the very nature of our Constitution as our President publicly promotes the violation of the same.

Is the hoopla about race?

Yes, it is.

Is there a place for athletes in this conversation?

Certainly.

Athletes, as opposed to the owners of athletic teams, are overwhelmingly non-white.

Athletes are the crème de la crème, the elite, those with a voice that can be heard.

The sacrificial lambs, however, are the viewers, the kids like Anthony who strive for a better life, who are not the 1% we watch on the field, but the 99% who try, who do the best they can to create a better life for themselves and their families.

Anthony Nelson was 20 years old, a Black kid in Los Angeles, a music student in the foster system doing the right thing.

He stood for his family.

He stood for his sister, Brittany.

He stood for education.

He stood against violence.

How do I know?

I spoke with him before he died.

I interviewed Anthony about his views on gun violence and he had a message for us all.

I started a campaign against violence called Stop Stuff spurned by people I never met who were killed senselessly, people like Jerry Levin’s son Jonathan in NYC, people like Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge.

You see, it doesn’t have to be your son or your brother to do something.

It doesn’t have to be a Black kid, a White kid, a 4-year old shot in the head in Chicago or a 20 year old stabbed in L.A. wearing a simple hat to do the right thing or take a stand or a knee.

I gave Anthony a Stop Stuff hat, a hat with a powerful message, S, T, O and P, an upside down backwards gun, that says stop killing people.

I don’t know if Anthony watched football or watched sports at all.

We didn’t talk about that.

I know that he wanted to live because that’s what he told me.

I know that he wanted to see the bodies stop piling up because he said so.

I know his sister wanted him to live because all sisters do.

I know she dreams about him because she tells me so.

I know that we have a problem.

I know that our brothers and sisters are dying, that our President does not support us, that the justice system is flawed, that poverty is an issue, that our educational system is broken.

I know that taking a knee may make a difference because we’re talking about it.

I know that Anthony is dead and that others will follow.

I know that it is my job, our job, on this planet to love each other, to originate the change that the Anthony’s of this country need and to rejuvenate hope amongst so many who’ve lost or never had it.

We live in a country built on the premise of limitless opportunity, of dreams, not chased, but fulfilled.

It is our obligation to do more than take a knee or raise a fist, but to force a change that will save and shape our future.

Stop Stuff is about stopping violence.

If you have a problem with a hat that has a gun that says STOP,

if you are afraid to take a stand or take a knee,

if you are not willing to take action against the rights of people who’ve been killed, diminished, ostracized, and imprisoned by a system that wasn’t made for them and, in many cases, specifically, stacked against them, then we are not for you.