We needed a diversion. Did we ever.
From existential schoolyard threats at the United Nations. From disaster porn. From climate-change disingenuousness. From collusion reminders. From a smug, monarchial first family. From post-election campaign rallies steeped in dog-whistle rhetoric. From immigrant intolerance. From uncolored supremacists. From another health-care cluster-Trump. From another church shooting.
Having said that, did we ever not need this particular diversion.
The provocateur-in-chief has insinuated himself into the national-anthem-at-pro-football games debate by calling out protesting NFL players as “sons of bitches.” For context, Donald Trump said–at last week’s Alabama rally–“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!'”
Where to begin? Americans, be they professional athletes, professional pundits or professional partisans maintain their constitutional, first-amendment rights to speak out. Whether it’s an athletic arena, a newspaper column or a campaign forum. For the NFL, this had been about the “Black Lives Matter” agenda and the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick.
Now it’s also become a forum on presidential racism. And make no mistake this is about race. The NFL isn’t NASCAR. It’s mostly black, which means the Trump-referenced “SOBs” are also black. And the contrast with how Trump handles white supremacists couldn’t be more blatant. When you’re more riled by a symbolic knee at the National Anthem than vitriol and consequent acts by the Alt Reich and neo Nazis, you are an incendiary part of the problem.
Public safety is not an issue, just public spectacle that not everyone likes or condones.
Too bad. Democracy is so sloppy at times.
And too bad an unqualified, unprepared, under-read, faux populist president of the United States is among those who don’t get the most fundamental of American rights.
I have a compromise, even if this is unacceptable to Trump and his channeling subjects as well as to both protesters and veterans.
Why not save the Star Spangled Banner for really important occasions and more relevant national events? Why not have NFL pre-games simply include a moment of silence–one dedicated to “Honest American values, human dignity and racial and ethnic diversity”? One that references those who put more than athletic performance on the line to keep neighborhoods safe, protect our country from terrorism and respond to disasters of every ilk.
And if one or more players wants to spike a football after this minute, good. That’s a celebration that knows no partisanship, no matter who occupies the Oval Office.