The Curious Case of Colin Kaepernick

In the most recent preseason game on his schedule, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick opted not to stand during the national anthem. This sparked a tremendous amount of controversy, getting support but also criticism from other players as well as fans. Many called for him to lose his job, some even went as far as burning his jersey.

There are many reasons for which he likely did this. He has not been shy about speaking about Black Lives Matter and other social issues, but in a couple respects, Colin Kaepernick needs to check his privilege. I know more than a few people will get in a tizzy reading that, but before you angrily type something in the comments let me explain. Colin Kaepernick does have types of privilege that many in America do not. He has class privilege (frankly one of the only ones that matters) and what I might call "platform privilege". What do I mean when I say "platform privilege"? Platform privilege is when you support a movement or group and your position is accepted by most with little to no question. This phenomena is highly prevalent in the Black Matter Movement. If you support it, you are all that is right with the world. If you don't support Black Lives Matter, then you are simply just a racist shitlord.

But permit me to backtrack a bit just to talk about Colin Kaepernick's "class privilege". Colin Kaepernick sits comfortably in a mansion where he has a collection of 500 pairs of sneakers. You would have to go to some remote parts of the world to meet someone who did not know his name. He holds a lot of advantages that others do not. Some Americans live paycheck to paycheck, struggling to even make rent or put food on their table. Some Americans might not have even one pair of sneakers or they might have a pair that is falling apart and they have to glue the sole back on. Colin Kaepernick might be one of the least self-aware people that I have seen.

Now I know that Kaepernick is not saying that he personally was oppressed (and if he had said that it would have been dubious). I know he was speaking in terms of black people and people of color as a collective; however, this is still a problem. Social interactions and dynamics cannot really be looked at in terms of collectives. One of the biggest problems with social justice is that we have rendered the individual to be completely irrelevant. If black people were oppressed collectively speaking, then there would be no black head coaches (or coaches at all), no black CEOs, no black millionaires, etc. Bad times don't discriminate on the basis of race and every individual has as much opportunity as anyone, all that might be needed is simply a different avenue. And yeah there are some problems in the criminal justice system, such as the sentencing gap (compare Brock Turner's sentence to Cory Batey's) as well as the War on Drugs. But Kaepernick would do better to advocate for the ending of those policies than sitting in a safe space crying "muh oppression". I don't see Kaepernick advocating for trade schools, so people could learn a trade and be marketable in skills that are rapidly declining in the current generation coming up.

Kaepernick talks about police brutality despite the fact that these are happening in cities that are overwhelmingly Democrat or that black officers sometimes do the killing (such as in Milwaukee), or black Mayors under a black Attorney General, under a black President. It is awfully convenient that Kaepernick ignores this.

Kaepernick talks about the American flag being a symbol of oppression, something I can in part agree with but I don't hear him talking about the Muslim world where President Obama has used drone strikes that have murdered innocent women and children by the thousands.

I don't disagree with Colin Kaepernick taking a stand on various issues. I don't even think he is really wrong in doing so. He has some valid points and has every right to do so under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Even without the Constitution we would still have the freedom to speak. I just think he is focusing on the wrong ones or at the very least not having all of the information as well as being internally inconsistent.