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This is Not Politics

f87de1210cfa5bd7ca3b1fd2648f6e73“Politics” can be used as a catch all term to define the self-absorbed elements that often inspire personalities in government to behave the way they do. They’ll make promises they have no intention of keeping, they pass laws that benefit their financial backers and they refrain from making decisions that require moral courage in order to maintain a peace that is devoid of justice and strength.

It can also be used as a way to sidestep moral imperatives in the interest of accommodating profits and the involvement of popular players who have no regard for any kind of absolute save the absolute of themselves.

When Colin Kaepernick first chose to kneel rather than stand during the National Anthem, he based his convictions on some judiciously selected facts while simultaneously turning a deaf ear to those in the law enforcement community who reached out to him in an effort to show him the training and the nature of a policeman’s job. Kaepernick refused.1 In so doing he revealed a deplorable lack of credibility and the fact that he would condemn the very paradigm that gives him the right to speak out makes him a truly heinous individual. 

If he wants to question the justice system, he needs to target those specific individuals that represent the problem and not demonize the ideal that is America. It is irresponsible, it is nonsensical and it is a slap in the face to every veteran, every law enforcement officer and especially to those who are currently standing in harm’s way overseas.

What is truly sinister is the way in which the actions of police officers who have shot and killed black suspects are never viewed in the context of protecting and serving. All that matters in the eyes of the media and activists is the enthnicity of the criminal. All of the rhetoric that you’re hearing in the news about “injustice” and “police brutality” rarely represents a comprehensive perspective on what really happened and when you pop the hood on all of the factors involved, it is truly pathetic to see how a thug breaking the law is suddenly made into a martyr for a cause that has no real substance.

This is the platform of those like Colin Kaepernick champion by refusing to stand for the National Anthem. They are wrong in their perspective, they are wrong in their actions and they are wrong when they say to anyone who disagrees with them that they are succumbing to the world of “politics.”

 

1. Letter to NFL Commissioner from Martin Halloran, President of San Francisco Police Officers Association 

Colin Kaepernick in the Morning…

san_francisco_police_department_patch1This morning I was walking into a convenience store and I heard over the radio a talk show featuring a personality that was elaborating on Colin Kaepernick’s stance and the number of black people that have been killed by police officers since he initially refused to stand for the National Anthem. In addition, Colin has apparently received some death threats because of his stance and I think it’s ironic that the people who would be tasked with protecting him come from the very institution he would demonize with his platform.

As I listened to the rhetoric being broadcast over the air, it aggravated me that so much attention is being given to Colin’s perspective, yet very little is being invested in how the San Francisco Police Department would defend the actions of their officers, or the officers who Colin would indict by refusing to stand for the National Anthem.

Personally, I have a real problem with Colin’s actions. If you have a problem with someone in a position of authority, you direct your critique at the person’s performance and not their position. Should your actions be such where they are processed as an assault on the dignity and the respect that person’s office deserves, your complaint is now buried beneath a layer of belligerence that makes your comments virtually impossible to hear. And that’s assuming your comments are accurate to begin with.

I was curious to know if the San Francisco Police Department has invited Colin to accompany any of them in a squad car and experience first hand the task of having to respond to the dispatcher as the calls for help are allocated to the various police officers on duty. What I found was an open letter that the President of the San Francisco Police Associate wrote to the Commissioner of the National Football League. It’s excellent. And while the media tends to gravitate to those things that are more suited to “headlines,” this letter brings some substance to the conversation and it’s worth reading.

As an aside, I’m not familiar with all of what Kaepernick has said. But I found this statement he recently made at a Press Conference. I think you betray the lack of credibility that characterizes your stance when you say things like this: “You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist,” he said. “That’s insane. Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us.”

Colin, one day you’re going to have to account for your words and your actions. Hopefully, by that point, you’ll be in a place where you’re willing to own that which justifies an apology on your part. Until then, know that there are people out there that vehemently disagree with you – not just your obvious lack of regard for the institution that is sworn to serve and protect, not just your lack of of judgment when it comes to the fact that you always salute the rank, even if you’re not inclined to salute the man, but for the fact that you would condemn the ideal that America represents while simultaneously appealing to that same dynamic for the accommodation you think you deserve.