DZ

I respect the fact that people like Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony are feeling an obligation to speak out. We should have all the respect in the world that they — sorry to use this metaphor — moved the ball forward, just by saying you have a right to speak out and you need to say something about the police killings that are taking place.

The first thing that makes Kaepernick different, though, isn’t the taking the knee at the anthem, but the political content of what he’s doing. He’s saying, “No justice no peace.” He’s taking a side and going beyond what many people have said — that we need stop the violence, and to bring police and community together.

Kaepernick is saying that there’s something wrong with a system where police won’t even be prosecuted when they kill someone. It isn’t about just getting to know the police better or having more forums or building more bridges. It’s about there being something systemically wrong about the way policing is done in this country. That’s the political content, and it’s a huge part of what makes this different.

Then there’s the act of first sitting and then kneeling during the anthem, which is putting politics in a space that many sports fans — especially reactionary, right-wing sports fans — want to see as an apolitical space.

Kaepernick is violating this unspoken social contract between the team owners and majority white fan base that says black athletes are to be seen, but not heard. They are here for entertainment, but you don’t have to really care what they think about the world.

And then the simplicity of the gesture is something that allows itself for replication. One of the reasons that it spread is that while people agree with Kaepernick that we have to have a discussion about police violence, it also became an act of solidarity against the death threats and racism that he is receiving.

Kaepernick has a teammate named Eli Harold, who last week wasn’t going to do anything about the anthem or the flag. But then ESPN’s Trent Dilfer basically said Kaepernick should shut his mouth and play, and Eli was so mad that he decided to join the protest.

Then there’s the social media aspect of it. You see that picture of Howard University cheerleaders all taking a knee — cheerleaders are usually seen in the football context as not to be taken seriously, and here you see the unsmiling pose of these incredibly strong black women.

That’s a powerful image, and the only thing you can do when you see an image like that is respond. Some respond with respect, and others respond with absolute, utter hate. What you don’t see is people being neutral when they see it.