The racial climate in America is so hot right now and clearly; I do not mean that in a good way. I dream of a country where people can just be who they are without regard to the “feelings” of others and live their damn lives. I mean that’s what most individuals want to do anyway.
Black, white, Asian, gay, trans – everyone just wants to live and be and have and love. But unfortunately, we don’t live in that world, never have and probably never will. There will always be a need to fight for what’s right, to buck up against an unfair system and to put everything on the line. That’s why I don’t understand why people like Ray Lewis continue to be pawns in white hands when it comes to the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick.
Okay, I take that back. I do understand, and it’s a shame that he and others are willing to spread white lies to keep people with too much money and power happy. Just about everyone is well aware of the young quarterback’s protest last season in which he took a knee during football games as a sign of solidarity with the countless black and brown lives that are lost and mistreated annually at the hands of American law enforcement.
Why should Kaepernick or any other POC stand in allegiance to a flag, during the singing of a racist ass national anthem, in a country with a history as dark and tragic as America’s? No violence, not hurting anyone, just taking a knee. We will not stop talking about the atrocities our black ancestors faced at the hands of your white ancestors because it will not stop affecting us.
Kaepernick is unsigned, and there is a growing consensus amongst black professional football fans that there may be a need to boycott the NFL this season if he remains unsigned. I am here for it. The man pretty much lost his career because he took a stand for something he believes in so dearly. What I am not here for is people like Lewis spewing the malarkey that Kaepernick’s trouble in finding a team has everything to do with his performance and not a damn thing to do with his protest.
There is no way in hell that any person, black, brown, or yellow can tell me that white people aren’t BIG MAD and that’s the reason Kaepernick doesn’t have a home. He’s “unpatriotic, ” and you know how white folks feel about patriotism. It’s akin to Sunday morning service and southern sweet tea. I wish to God that black men with little to no real credibility or apparent interest in social activism would stop cosigning the lie that Colin’s a mediocre athlete. He isn’t playing because he’s being punished for offending a segment of the population that have never felt the need to protest anything, accept maybe affirmative action.
I have always had an issue with Ray. When I lived in Baltimore, I saw how the city treated him like a God. They still do. I mean, the guy is a line backer, and yet there is a statue of him, not Joe Flacco the Ravens quarterback, outside of M&T Bank Stadium. He holds a lot of weight in that city because Baltimore has one of the highest crime and murder rates in the country, so their need for something positive and good is ever present. They have found their savior in Lewis, and that means he gets away with a lot of crap.
People listen to him so I can see how him saying that Kaepernick doesn’t bring much to the team was a deciding factor in the owners’ and coach’s hard pass. I can’t see, however, how he fixed his mouth to say that, other than capping for the Colin Kaepernick ban in order to stay in people’s good graces. I know arrogant men. I know men whose position and power are the driving forces behind what they do and I spotted these characteristics in Lewis within the first few seconds I learned who he was.
He has since continued to show his ass with his “preaching” videos, capitalizing on his godlike fandom. All of the horns and whistles and spinning, nonetheless, cannot hide the truth about why the Ravens didn’t sign Colin but were more than willing to sign cripple ass RG3. He’s been blacklisted. Period!
Baltimore is one of the most racist cities in the country and when white America needs to send a message that their actions concerning a prominent black figure aren’t rooted in bigotry or white supremacy, they will use a willing melanated vessel to do their bidding. Kaepernick has been shut out from playing in the NFL because he refused to pledge his allegiance to the American flag before football games. Those that argue otherwise either know the truth but are too afraid to admit it or are truly gullible to the inner workings of systematic racism in this country.
I watched the 2013 Super Bowl. I saw the Baltimore Ravens take on the San Francisco 49’s. It was Lewis’ last season and Kaepernick’s first season and Super Bowl. I saw him out quarterback Joe Flacco. I also saw how mysterious circumstances happened in the New Orleans Super Dome like the loss of power for roughly 30 minutes, which stopped the game.
The Ravens ultimately won, but that had more to do with it being Lewis’ last game than the 49’s or Kaepernick underperforming. I promise you that. Kaepernick has the talent. He has the stats and he has the ability. What he doesn’t have, unfortunately, is the support of black men in the National Football League.
In the NFL, you can commit the most horrendous crimes. You can beat your wife (Ray Rice and countless others), stand trial for murder (Lewis), kill a pedestrian while driving drunk (Donté Stallworth), train dogs to rip each other apart (Mike Vick) and white people will get you off, forgive, and forget. What it all comes down to is money, so what are a few crimes here or there if it means making a buck? But as soon as you exhibit any kind of behavior that reminds them of their horrible, murderous past, you become an enemy.
Ray Lewis is a joke. Colin Kaepernick is the truth and truth isn’t always easy to swallow. It does, however, deserve a chance to be told. It deserves to be seen.