Opinion

Anthem protest spreads to Oakland City Council

Photo: Time Magazine A photo illustration of a photo by Michael Zagaris of Colin...

Colin Kaepernick’s decision to not stand for the national anthem has inspired two Oakland City Council members to remain seated for the pledge of allegiance.

Desley Brooks and Rebecca Kaplan are the latest Oaklanders to follow Kaepernick in protesting oppression of minorities. Last week, players and coaches from the Castlemont High School football team kneeled and raised their fists before the anthem. On Wednesday, most of the 155 members of the Oakland Unified School District Honor Band took a knee while playing the anthem before an Oakland A’s game.

McClymonds High School graduate Marcus Peters, a player on the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, has raised a black-gloved fist in the air.

Here’s why Kaepernick’s protest, despite the outrage, is gaining support: In the last week, there have been three police-involved fatal shootings of black people.

First, a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, shot Tyre King, who was 13 years old and had pulled from his waistband a BB gun. Forty-eight hours later, a Tulsa, Okla., police officer shot Terence Crutcher, 40, after responding to a call about an abandoned vehicle on the road. Crutcher was outside the car, unarmed and had his hands up before he was shot. And then on Tuesday, a police officer in Charlotte, N.C., shot Keith L. Scott, 43, outside an apartment building.

Some people just can’t stand it anymore.

“The dialogue that Colin Kaepernick has continued in this country — ’cause he didn’t start it; he’s continuing it — is the fact that there is racism in this country and that there is police brutality in this country,” Brooks said during Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Brooks, who wore a T-shirt with a San Francisco 49ers logo, added, “Not every police officer is abusing people.” Still, she will not stand for the pledge.

“I hope that others will do that, too, because what we need is a real dialogue about the substantive issues that are wrong in this country,” Brooks said.

Kaplan is also sitting with Kaepernick.

“My sitting during the pledge of allegiance was not by mistake,” said Kaplan, who recited the words while holding a hand to her heart.

“And I think it is essential that we stand up for the rights to speak out and denounce injustice even when that form that the standing up takes is sitting down.”

During the civil rights movement, there were sit-ins at lunch counters, college campuses and courthouses.

Not only has Kaepernick’s protest fueled discussion about the treatment of people of color by police, it’s also provided an opening to explore symbols tied to American identity like the pledge and the flag.

If you listened to Kaepernick and others who are exercising their freedom to protest, you’d know that these symbols have been held up and celebrated throughout our history even as some Americans have been excluded from the rights and justice they project.

While the flag represented triumph when it was planted atop Mount Suribachi by the United States Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 — and while it expressed resilience and solidarity when it was raised by New York firefighters at ground zero in 2001, it has also whipped in the air as Jim Crow laws breezed through the South for 75 years.

Under the flag, Indian nations were forcefully relocated, Japanese Americans were interned, and slaves were used to build the foundation of this great nation.

At the council meeting, Oakland resident Assata Olugbala, who was wearing a Kaepernick jersey, noted that “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written by a slave owner. She hasn’t stood for the pledge in 20 years.

“When you stand here and say, before this meeting, that this is one nation that is under God, and that it has liberty and justice for all, that’s a lie,” she told the council members.

There is an expectation to honor the flag. Federal law states that citizens should stand at attention with their right hand over their heart whenever the flag is being hoisted, lowered or honored in a ceremony.

For me, the broad stripes and bright stars of the American flag symbolize more than patriotism.

Let me be clear: I will honor my allegiance to my country until my death. But I will also be sitting for the national anthem and pledge of allegiance to protest lack of equality.

The rhetoric and death threats dumped onto Kaepernick and others who have protested injustice and inequality confirm that, contrary to the pledge, this isn’t yet one nation under God. All people aren’t treated equally.

There isn’t justice for all. Yet.

But there is an opportunity — now — to have an honest discussion about our feelings and fears, what we’ve seen and how we see things. It’s an opportunity to learn, from each other, what we’ve been taught and how it’s shaped what we believe.

Our voices need to be heard, not dismissed. Until the killings cease, we won’t be able to stand together.

Otis R. Taylor Jr. is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist whose column appears Tuesday and Friday. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr