Programming note: Watch the full interview with Nate Boyer and Charles Woodson on tonight’s episode of “Race In America: A Candid Conversation” in the NBC Sports Bay area at 8pm, hosted by Monte Poole and Logan Murdock.
Just before the penultimate preseason game of the 49ers in 2016, quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat on the bench as the National Anthem played at Levi’s Stadium. After the game, he explained that the gesture was a protest against police brutality.
It was not Kaepernick’s first foray into activism. He was inspired to protest the murder of Mario Woods, who was killed by San Francisco police after an alleged stabbing in 2015. But this was the first time he used the NFL platform to get his message across and the response was mixed. . While he received some support, many faces in the league, such as New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, criticized the protest and said they did not respect the military. Others, like President Donald Trump, later offered the same refrain.
Former NFL long snapper Nate Boyer harbored similar sentiments. Inspired to join the army after the September 11 attacks, it later became a green beret. Boyer, a white man, saw the flag as a symbol of his fallen comrades in the line of duty. But instead of openly criticizing Kaepernick, he tried to understand his point of view.
“That really hurt me,” said Boyer. “But I also said,” Okay, not just reactions because of your emotions. “
The two first met days after Kaepernick’s initial protest, just before the 49ers’ preseason finale against the San Diego Chargers. In the hotel lobby, Boyer told Kaepernick about his experiences with the flag. The moment he brought one of his best friends home in a coffin covered with the flag. How to defend the hymn meant that it was in solidarity with its fallen soldiers. But Kaepernick had a different version of the hymn and how the letters “freedom and justice for all” did not always apply to blacks. At the end of the meeting, Kaepernick asked Boyer a question.
“Nate, do you think there is another way I can demonstrate or protest that I don’t offend people in the military?”
Boyer suggested Kaepernick kneel for the anthem, and the quarterback agreed. However, despite Boyer’s recommendation, Kaepernick’s biggest detractors held the point of contention that the QB’s new method of protest was disrespectful to anyone who had served. The stubbornness showed that even when a person’s message is crystal clear, critics will use talking points to dilute it, rather than speaking out loud for real change.
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As Kaepernick was preparing for a new form of protest, former Raiders defenseman Charles Woodson was beginning his post-broadcast career on ESPN. He had experienced racism in his youth.
“I remember one time, probably in high school, where we ran into some people down the street from my house, and the police approached us, man, to our neighborhood and the policeman has his gun,” Woodson recalled. “He’s shaking like a leaf. I’m sitting there still and I’m talking to the officer. It’s almost like I’m trying to convince him, but I’m like,” Hey, man, I’m not moving. I see you trembling, man. I’m not moving, and I’m not going to move. “
As Kaepernick remained steadfast in his decision to kneel, Woodson noted that the message behind him continued to be distorted by those who criticized him.
“People put it on opposite sides of the flag, and that’s how it was presented,” Woodson explained. “This is Colin Kaepernick. He is protesting against the United States. Maybe he does not want to be here. He does not respect our military. He does not respect the flag. And it is as if the entire message he conveyed was correct on everyone’s head.”
Kaepernick was still on his knees and criticism kept coming, even as the police continued to kill citizens. Trump continued his verbal attack, Twitter players should be “fired” for kneeling. At an Alabama rally, Trump used inflammatory language when arguing that homeowners should discipline players who knelt during the anthem.
“Wouldn’t you like to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag, say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. You are fired! You know, some owner is going to do that. “
All the time the police kept killing unarmed black people. In 2018, Stephon Clarke was killed by Sacramento authorities in his backyard. The police fired 20 bullets, thinking that Clarke had a gun. After the shooting, only one cell phone was recovered from Clarke’s person. More disturbingly, both police officers involved were exonerated from all charges.
Almost two years later, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after the police fired Derek Chauvin, a white man, pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes when Floyd pleaded, “I can’t breathe “. Floyd was detained after a store owner alleged he used a counterfeit $ 20 bill. Police also initially alleged that he resisted arrest, but nearby surveillance footage disputed those claims. Since Floyd’s death, protests have erupted across the world, including Germany and Australia.
As the protests grew in numbers, Kaepernick’s name was mentioned again, only now with much more reverence. Numerous athletes began planning similar protests when their respective sports returned from the coronavirus hiatus. However, Brees was still among those backing down with similar rhetoric, criticizing the form of protest while continuing to miss the point.
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“I will never agree with anyone who does not respect the flag of the United States of America or our country,” Brees told Yahoo Finance earlier this month. “I imagine my two grandparents, who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corps, both risking their lives to protect our country and try to make our country and this world a better place …. Is everything okay with our country right now? No, it’s not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect for the flag with your hand It is about your heart that it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together. “
This time, however, it was Brees who received the brunt of the criticism, and experts and players reminded him of why Kaepernick protested in the first place. But therein lies the problem in today’s world. People tend to stick to talking points rather than talking to each other for real change. Instead, more should take the Boyer route and try to understand what the historically deprived race has been going through for centuries. Maybe then, we can see real change.
“People gravitate to one side of a problem or the other side of a problem, and they really don’t want to hear the other side’s opinion or consider the other side’s perspective to be valid,” Boyer said. “Which is very unhealthy and dangerous.”
