It Is Time to Stop Kneeling for the National Anthem

Let’s begin with remembering how this all got started. A San Francisco 49er quarterback of mixed racial heritage, Colin Kaepernick, felt that he could not in all good conscience pay homage to a country in which people of color were not being treated equally by the police and criminal justice system. In particular, he and many others were outraged by several incidents in which seemingly innocent young men were killed by over-anxious policemen. From all indications, his gesture of kneeling during the anthem was sincere, not calculated, and certainly not designed to bring him any sort of gain; in fact it has only brought him pain and financial loss.

Since then, the gesture of kneeling during the anthem has blown up and become yet another divisive issue in an America that becomes more divided by the day. Kneeling has taken on a much wider and less defined meaning, to where the noise has drowned out the original point.

Most importantly, the chance to come together to address an important issue, equal treatment of all Americans under the law, has actually been decreased because of the animosity generated by the protests. They have become counter-productive and self-defeating.

So, I propose the following solution.

First, stop kneeling during the anthem. It is alienating millions of NFL fans and customers, many of whom would step up to support the cause of equitable treatment under the law.

Second, find a way to continue to call attention to the issue. My suggestion: all players take a knee during the first two plays of each game. On the first play, Team A kicks off to Team B, and Team B runs it back for a touchdown. On the second play, the roles are reversed, and Team A scores a touchdown. On the third play, the game basically “starts” with the score 7-7. It may be far-fetched, but the idea is sound: do something dramatic that is not offensive to your constituency, but keeps the issue in the public eye.

Third, address the real issue. The NFL should start a fund to raise awareness of police, train them on how to more effectively manage their actions around people of color, and buy them more protective gear. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business, and it would not be unreasonable to expect them to start a fund in the tens of millions of dollars. The League would also start a challenge campaign to ask fans to match their contributions. In other words, bring all NFL fans into the tent and do something positive to bring change.

This issue has become emblematic of so much of what is going on in America today. It seems that we would rather take sides and revel in our anger than seek common ground and work toward a solution. This one is not very difficult: why would anyone not support equal treatment of all Americans under the law? Maybe a plan like this could set a precedent for more opportunities where we could work as one nation.