(ThyBlackMan.com) When Colin Kaepernick took a knee last year, he may have not known the breadth of the movement he would inspire. As with any movement of protest, there is now emerging a raucous and virulent counter protest (witness Charlottesville) that is intent on drowning out the voice of reason and principle.
Add to this the reality of a American president willing to fan the flames of racial animus to his favor, and the result is a polluted, race-based exchange of anger and misunderstanding. It’s important that we do not react, but rather respond to this crisis of conversation and leadership.
How do we respond? By presenting sound, reasonable facts and 
principles which have been evident since America was birthed more than two hundred years ago. Here are five “talking points” you can use at the water cooler, in your cubicle or just in ordinary conversation with your fellow Americans when the subject of why black athletes are protesting the national anthem.
Protest is fraught with human emotion but we can agree to disagree agreeably once we discuss the facts as opposed to the fiction about race in America.
America Was Founded on Protest
Remember the Boston Tea Party? Remember freedom from religious oppression? Remember how the First Amendment was ratified in 1791, a mere fifteen years after the founding of our country? America was founded on these principles – it’s what makes us Americans!
Protest has been the modus operandi over the spectrum of our existence as a nation. Indeed, protest has been a hallmark of the existence of blacks in this country from its inception. Take peaceful protest away and you remove half of our history as a country – including the Civil Rights movement, which was predicated upon peaceful change.
White Privilege is a Reality
White privilege is a term for societal advantages that benefit people identified as ‘White’ in most Western countries beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under similar political and economic circumstances.
We still have no clue of what being born white means, San Antonio Spurs and USA Basketball Coach, Grep Popovich said recently.
You don’t have to look far for evidence of White privilege; it’s been an American phenomenon since America was birthed in 1776. It’s evident in our culture in music, in retail stores, banks, universities, churches etc. the list goes on and on. Step into any place of business that is otherwise frequented by multiple ethnicities and I guarantee you the music blaring from the speakers will be Anglo-based.
In fact, just turn on the television tonight you will watch White privilege at its best.
How Much do you Really “Respect” the Flag?
Take a poll of the millions of Whites who attend NFL football games (because they are the likely ones to afford it) each Sunday during the season and ask them how many of them patrol the stadiums in their respective cities and make sure that every able-bodied person in the stadium is standing erect with their hand over their heart when the national anthem is playing.
Better yet, ask any white person how they feel about the flag being so mercilessly marketed on cups, bathing suits, cars and even used as bandanas and watch as you get a blank stare. The flag we so dutifully respect is also maliciously promulgated at the hands of a capitalist society.
Solders Fight for our Right to Protest
What an enormous burden we place on our servicemen and women when we suggest we are dishonoring their service to our country by protesting peacefully, when the right to protest peacefully is the very reason (among others) they have given their service – and their lives in so many cases – to our country. We do not dishonor them; in fact, we honor them by exercising our right!
“Patriotism” is the Most Abused Term in the American Lexicon
American discourse has always used such terms as “patriotism” as a mask to demonize the ‘other’, especially Blacks people. Its how, in part, Slavery was justified for so long as a necessary American icon.
It’s what Donald Trump is essentially doing now: using the flag and the national anthem to question the patriotism of black athletes, when the real intention is to flame the racial sentiments of the targeted demographic (read: unenlightened Whites). It’s really a pathetic attempt at racial coding under the pretense of patriotism. Unfortunately, it works and its been working in this country since its founding.
Respond with facts as opposed to fiction when discussing race in America.
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitestrategiescoaching.com.
