To Kareem Abdul Jabbar for Colin Kaepernick

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Sampson I. Onwuka

To Kareem Abdul Jabbar

Colin Kaepernick is not to be classified as a hero that Mohammed Ali would have been proud off and we argue that the ‘hero’ did not exactly do any wrong by kneeling during national anthem in protest of police action but was not like Ali a Champion in his own realms to exercise the rights under the searching light of an athlete left no choice but to act. There is a cause and effect in the story of Karpernick which your article did not treat, a point you made about Ali that against the expectation of blacks, he took personal actions that proved ultra-violet to what was expected of those who refused to honor the call to arms, and therefore a denial of cause and effect for Colin Kaepernick as against his merits as opposed to his demerits. Kaepernick we need to mention is not hero-complex as some people may like to frame him, either/or, he is an active member of two cultures that gave birth to him – each in their own struggled against systematic police problem in Europe and in U.S.A. He is not a hero because he and his group choose to act by taking a knee at the public theater, he is a hero of a different kind because of how his actions were perceived by the public and the public choose to vitiate his fears. NO body who is raised Jewish will not intermittently react the question of State actions on local matters, for it seems, that the man may have been forgotten as a Child of his parent's passions, that such solid personalities that identify with others are usually struggling from other problems - perhaps of uncertainty. In a way, he has come to view the view as if two separate walls exist, his and the one not visible, and in psychology, his analysis is proof that the invisible wall was ultimately real for him in 2016 with the reactionary tendencies between minority members of the public and those who were vested the power to protect the public. This is not far from Ali, yet the issue of realities in public arena often illicit the most lurid interest from the power-public.

It is amazing what do under pressure someone once said, a way of suggesting that it did not seem to the general public that beneath the air of austerity that cloaked Colin Kaepernick was perhaps a soul that see other realities too serenely, as if to suggest that the psychology beseeching a man or woman traveling through a scene of his or her fatal accident is perhaps an attempt to form the right estimate of his pressure. It doesn't mean that he, Kaepernick was no in control of his actions - it means that such action were law to the point that what seem to him police brutality and public silence and neglect had a special effect of him. Perhaps this is not the case. A case can be made that Kaepernick differs from Ali for pure reasons of his background, than the triumph of a hero who people believe overstated his favorite role as a quarter back.

 

It could hardly be mistaken that Kaepernick on the hand has not approached this issue by presenting himself as a morality leader, he is identifying with others, especially civil rights leaders and social provost in a way that provoke judgment and seem to argue without really accepting that his career is not an issue at this point. I shall mention that the dissent over Colin Kaepernick is not over but shouldn’t hang around much longer, o for it seems that his' is an ethical issue as opposed to its politics, that he should embrace the U.S flag publicly to remove the argument that he disrespected the U.S flag, an allegation that was not investigated by one of his ex-girl friends and a point of confusion for many people including the indigent effort made the U.S President in investigating the calumny. One can only be worthy of himself to state that after a thorough review of his conduct and his position in all these matters, there is serious confusion over what Kaepernick actually did and serious dissent over his content of his commentary dating back to 2016.

The social dissent over Colin Kaepernick’s ‘race’ commentary is one the highlights of 2016. The dissent mirrors the extent that any star athlete can divide the opinions of the public – especially during presidential election years. The reflection of 2016 is not entirely about the election and the NFL; it is to a large extent about the Kaepernick and his commentary and how the society can easily divided over the role of police. Police brutality is not an idle discussion and those who have witnessed excessive use of force seem to have problems with the fact that it is always in the black, a way of suggesting that some Americans may relate to the problems of violence. I shall pretend here that the statement by Kaepernick about the ‘systematic racism’ did not directly mention the retaliatory actions of the police on African Americans during the cyclical problem in 2016, a group too large to be considered responsible for a string of attack on Police.

From all accounts, the kneeling by Kaepernick and friends during the U.S National Anthem was said to be non-violent protest over the rising fracas between Police Authorities and African Americans. In essence Kaepernick’s action could hardly be seen as anything but a question of ethics, but we are to mention that one’s own kid brother may always have his way with you, that his actions in this case were not political from the standpoint of NFL, that he has no NFL club at this point is partly a symptom of the recent actions but also part of the fact that he is not without replacement – even if people think him special talent. Kaenernick can not be regarded a victim of his heritage, a Jewish heritage - who suffered the menace of police ruthlessness when Germany and Europe relapsed on the acceptable use of Police force. I shall withdrew comparison to Mohammed Ali in spite of the fact that he doubted the American morality of fighting in Vietnam.

Kaepernick is not a victim of his own inheritance, a black – mixed, for we know that the so called Blacks and their morality leaders, argue in America, that the ‘end of law was justice in action’ and to this saying among them is another position that the man who holds the gun may have power over life and death in Africa but the man who raises his hands in surrender also has rights. These are extra curricula with Ethics in all class of respect, that there are realms of reasonable expectations which both parties need to consider, and so admitted by U.S Courts, that under the rubric of reasonable expectations within a pretext of the Constitution are acceptable threshold for police conduct. To this old threshold for police conduct is perhaps a necessity to add that for Colin Kaepernick and company that it seem to me that they have a preponderance to reasonable expectations which is 'right to reasonable expectations. That rights to reasonable expectation may include conduct of NFL players who choose in future or now to operate within the circumstances of protest, that it may include how NFL players are to present a protest – social, political, etc., on such and such a time, including the new reality with women who are reaching back to the past where they felt they were unjustly harassed for sex….And that these expectations which are not well defined by NFL may premise the act of kneeling during certain occasions other than the national anthem, are within the ethics for demonstration and protest.

Here’s the argument, the retaliatory actions of the police could be defended as a way to enforce a status-quo, to a point that the murder of African Americans in 2016 was minimum consequence of such an action, that it was spreading throughout the country invited small criticism but on the whole, it amounted to nothing until actions were taken by Colin Kaepernick and company. We are not suggesting that the Police were right with how they handled the confusion – including the failures of F.B.I to investigate some of the claims by either side of the victim’s families, but it seems that we witnessed was a systematic way of thinking about Americans, that is, the acts were especially characteristic of a systemic failures….,among police that approved in default the use of force in dealing with Blacks for any reasons including what we call ‘worked source doctrine’. To the extent that it becoming a silent argument that they exist as they versus the Blacks.

‘Power intoxicates’ says a line from a Shakespeare drama on Julius Caesar, and given some of us who are eye witnesses to certain crimes against humanity, in New York and in 9/11/2001, were the Kaepernick and company were not confused in what they saw as a spiral case of provoked over-reaction or unprovoked ‘aggression’ which nobody believed existed in the way it manifested, that it was gradual in its evolution is true to a quick successive argument, that it was dimly lit for Blacks in U.S suggesting that there were reasons why the police re-entered their world in 2016 is a threshold, that shooting the black on even a hunch was not actions against the law and therefore a separate standing. In essence, there are reasons to believe that the Police as a general force were not justified in their actions, but it seems that some of the actions were a little to far and unnecessarily provoked creating the reason to measure what may have happened if Black police officers decided to withdraw their official support. Perhaps, the message will take a different form when the course reaches the military especially the NAVY.

The NFL may not pretend that much was not expected of their leadership during the off field race commentaries but their silence and minimum participation may explain the extent of their powers. It widens the landscape that NFL may need official power brokers to readapt some basic conflict between the players and the public to statuesque. When and if becomes necessary to intervene during dissent it will be deflate the bubble than the attempts at damages. It could be asked if the dissent was a natural reaction to a person of interest hitting a hammer at the head, or that the public lack due patient for men perhaps struggling with married life. It is a poor commentary to scar the media that perhaps if the athlete had been married – perhaps with children it could have clawed the deciding dispatch from some of the dissenters.

There are those who agree with Karpernick and there are others who disagree, to the extent that the two dissent group chart their actions differently - make the clearer picture that the statement hitting the ‘hammer at the head’ is poor show and perhaps a less redeeming summary of the commentary by Colin Karpernick to the more critical possibility that the penetration was not deep enough. Deeper into American cultural civilization is a country rooted in defense of the less privileged and less fortunate, it’s a country transformed over the centuries through the challenges of civil and social conflicts.  

 The focus is Kaepernick – at least the evolution of his person and his transformations through the years with the 49ers. Given the speed of the dissent in nearly everywhere, especially at the NFL, it would seem from a rear-view that we may not have taken Kaepernick seriously and that the maturity of Kaepernick in persons, in ideas and at a NFL was not apparent until recently. The slow observation of his psychological leaning over the years seem not to jive until recently, perhaps due to the mocking years of the failures to land a super bowl ring but also due to the sharp disconnect between sports and politics. The lines are everywhere and the audience disagrees with the extent of the political dogma and the broach to public competition and sports. We may argue that the statement by Kaepernick is hardly political, that it may or may not have been arrived at through other searching reasons than the smear observation of what seem available to him.

Politics apart, sports and champion aside, we may now wonder perhaps if the influence on all of us radiated differently, that it now seem fitting to castigate him following what seem a passing commentary. Perhaps he’s not loved that well, or his kind and generous psychology is not received as a commitment to adult living. Perhaps he is worthy of his fair share of the castigation that comes with scanting criticism of American social landscape and by that he is not sorry that the statement of ‘systematic racism’ is not a lamentation or true by the yardstick known to all and asunder. In this dissent – which is not perhaps the last from NFL or even from a Colin Karpernick, we are faced with two construct, one, an – off-the -field construct and the other - his on-the-field construct. We must here choose to tend our post along the opposing construct and the dissent. We may indicate for the general public that enough exist to clarify that ‘race’ discourses – even the indigent kind – is a valued judgment destined for ashes and in trying circumstances of the public concerns – race commentary is ‘oft with spear’, a lightning rod not fitting a prince. It is also his prerogative which supersede every other concern especially on-the-field ability. 

A patina highlighting his off- field the commentary and his talent show during on the field games, gives a sense of an enduring presence, a charisma of unyielding persona. But there are others. Had we failed recognize the influence of the star athlete, it would not have mattered that he was vilified or so it seems but since Colin Kaepernick is still grasping his straw with leadership, there are elements of surprise. On a more general note, Colin may or may not have noticed that a generation of NFL quarterback have taken their leave – that Kaepernick and company lead the NFL. Colin may or may not have also noticed that there are few deciding quarterbacks out there and if there is a pecking order he is among the very elite. He is for other reason held closer to the light than every NFL player. Once every other time the onus to perform falls of these pillars and guiding lights of sports cartel and with it the higher calling.  

On the hand it could be argued that Kaepernick is in reality a leader of a team in his own right, that in San Francisco if not in the country - he is a hero to poor white folks who are angst beseech about their future. He is also to rich others who include all Americans who are also in sports. If this argument is acceptable, we are safe to assert that Kaepernick left out in his commentary the fact that Americans are still tender in their emotion about the country that for instance the U.S Police did not know it all. The summary of the paragraph is that the reaction from the media and the public did not reflect the ‘race’ commentary. The churn of smiles over the issue that divided the country could not erase any doubts beneath the country’s struggle for opulence, and there are more demanding issues of U.S ability to meet the crying demands for justice and for protection in an age of information technology and personal importance. There are men still left and he end the year as it began with its expectation for better things. The rest is thrash,  

 We imagine that a star athlete on the other hand would tickle a kind of interest in the public. We can also draw from the incident the extent to which his the off-field commentary or lifestyle of a major NFL player such as Colin Kapernick would interfere with his performance on-the-field. A comparative look at some of the players at the NFL whose reactionary tendencies to public dissent may throw light on why the failure of Kaepernick to mount defense raise the issues of doubts over his personal ability to defend his position. It is not the legality of his position but his legibility for what he is confronted with. For instance Jerry Rice would rephrase all the questions from the press may have reacted differently and a Tom Brady may organize his own media press release, may not be enough but state his canons will closely to the obstacle.

In short, there are lingering and undiminished surprises that accompany Kaepernick 2016 fall- out with the public, one of which is the lasting reasons for his silence during the lash from the media. We may not pretend that such silence or silencing leave with undigested facts about the whole episode. We would have expected the fast talking, thrash talking machine and one of the sexiest men in NFL called Colin Kaepernick to highlight his view to our media house. It didn’t quite happen. The circus of radioactive commentaries proved serious for his health and the silence of minorities made it look ridiculous. Let us emphasize that American has ‘systematic racism’ but the point shy from the more common fact that America was designed from its ancient beginning to tackle and end the problems of racism, gender, class, religious persecution, which are products of human ineluctable.

There are reason to doubt the ‘systematic racism’ given the ominous gaps between self-preservation which discriminates and self-preservation through public policy. It is up to the older part of Colin to call on American history through the last 200 years at least, to mention that the there are times the country lost tract of its raison d’eter and periods when it was tried for many reasons, that there are reasons why it remains faithful to its statuesque. If off-the-field Karpernick proves a polarizing figure because he was hardly taken seriously as a title contender, it would not have mattered since there are issues of championship on-the-field which require his diligence. If we maintain that there reasons to doubt that his belt will buckle as quarterback of a major team – then we may yet accept that his polarizing image is concomitant with the acceptance that a Colin is no longer an affair, that a transformation was complete in 2016 and not enough. On-the-field the ball will not founder and off the field, he is no longer his past. He should not however think no body is listening but we interested in Colin. If he is off-the-real transformed, he should look to the year 2016 at the beginning of his influence, he should try in all reason to escape little distractions. Karpernick must destroy his idea of Colin not because he is adjudged at fault, that Karpernick is not student but the American.