Sam Blankenship is a freelance political writer

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- President Donald Trump put out a statement on Twitter last Monday that read, "The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag, and National Anthem." This statement is patently false.

Colin Kaepernick, the man who started all the NFL anthem controversy years ago, has made it abundantly clear he knelt to protest the treatment of black people and people of color, specifically by the police.

Agree or disagree, this initial action very clearly had everything to do with race -- and others in the NFL who have joined Kaepernick have made it clear that they knelt not only in solidarity with his right to protest, but also with the cause he was protesting for.

Taken on its own, an outright false statement from the president is always going to be upsetting. But in the wider scheme of Trump's reactions to many recent events, the president's words take on a far more insidious feeling.

The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017

At Trump's discretion, nothing is about race. After Charlottesville, all the president wanted to talk about were the Confederate statues, not the racist and anti-Semitic slogans being chanted. After the NFL protests, Trump complained of disrespect rather than comment on what the players were protesting.

It seems that, when acknowledging race would make his policy and rhetoric look indefensible, the president simply chooses not to.

By making the argument about how the players were protesting, rather than what, Trump is providing an out for the many Americans who take him at his word. Rather than having to confront the realities of police brutality against minorities, he and his supporters can call those protesting it disrespectful and anti-American and ignore the point being made.

It goes further than just the NFL players; many groups are dismissed in similar ways by this administration, and not just the ones on the left. Trump made the white supremacists out to be purely about Confederate statues, rather than hate and racism.

So the question is, why? Why does President Trump choose to ignore the real role race plays in so many issues in America?

I do not accept that it is just a lack of comfort. More likely, he does not want to step away from his supporters who, through his rhetoric and their own beliefs, choose to ignore it. These are the people who call Black Lives Matter a hate group, who boo NFL players peacefully protesting, but somehow tried to explain away the Nazis at Charlottesville. These are people who are racially insecure and don't want to talk about race because doing so undermines their belief system.

This belief system stems from a lack of awareness. If everyone from your news sources to your president tell you Colin Kaepernick was disrespecting America and nothing more, why doubt it? If these same people say that Black Lives Matter are baseless thugs, who would argue? If no one you listen to challenges your beliefs, why would they change?

I would bet that the people ignoring the substance of the NFL protests and, recently, the rallies in St. Louis have not actually seen the videos of police brutality that are making so many Americans of all races so motivated and upset.

They probably haven't seen Eric Garner be slowly suffocated, or Philando Castile bleed out in the car with his girlfriend and young daughter right next to him, or any of the countless other horrifying videos. If they have seen the videos, and still don't get why people are upset, then maybe it's too late for them.

It's time for Americans to come together and reaffirm the longstanding traditions of American protests, as enshrined in the First Amendment.

The thing about peaceful protests is, they aren't supposed to be "respectful." They are intended to cause a stir, to anger some and to rally others. Protests don't work if no one is upset. They are never inherently anti-American; this is determined only by the reasons for the protests.

A group of people calling for the expulsion of minorities and immigrants, entirely counter to the ethos of America, is anti-American.

Men and women calling for equality and an end to racially motivated violence, quite firmly in line with the beliefs America was built on, couldn't be more American.

Sam Blankenship is a freelance political writer who thinks about politics instead of studying for the Law School Admission Test.

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