Taking The Knee, For A Just Cause Or Just Another Trend
When NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem before his team’s preseason games in 2016, it must have felt strange: maybe not to him, but to everyone in the stadium and the millions of fans that were watching all over the world. Colin’s goal was simple, to use his platform to shine light on issues concerning police brutality and oppression of people of colour. His fight for social justice was the type that divided opinions. On one hand, his protest was seen as disrespectful, a lot of people felt he was being disrespectful to the military personnel and above all, the flag of the United States of America. On the other hand, his protest was seen as a welcome development. Victims of social issues like police brutality and racism needed someone, preferably with a wide platform who would cast light on their struggles. Colin Kaepernick always maintained that his goal was the latter, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour” he said “To me, this is bigger than football and it will be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder”.
Since Colin took the knee in 2016, other NFL stars joined him in his fight. Even when some were quick to state that they would only join for a particular period of time, the effects of his protest has started gaining momentum. Today, everyone is taking a knee. Over the past nine days, the United States of America and other parts of the world have witnessed protests against police brutality and racism. The death of George Floyd, a black American man who was murdered in broad day light by the police under the guise of ”investigating” the purchase of cigarettes with counterfeit money on May 25 in Minneapolis has proven to be the last straw for a race that had seen deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown just to mention a few. Across the world, there have been several images of people taking a knee. Policemen have been seen taking a knee, there have been images of groups of white people taking a knee in support, and football teams like Liverpool, Wolverhampton Wanderers and AS Roma have also shown support by doing the same. The effect of this is that it gets people talking; more people are beginning to take notice of what is going on in the United States, world leaders are beginning to lend their voices indirectly to the cause, the voice and action of one man is now used as a tool for positive change.
Some footballers have had one or two things to say in the past few days while some others have joined in the protests by trending the #BlackOutTuesday hashtag. However, I believe that more can be done. Trending hashtags have the potential to create awareness for a cause online just as it has the potential to quickly disappear into thin air and be forgotten. Hashtags can only create awareness for a period of time, footballers and sportsmen in general need to speak out more. It is only by speaking out about these social issues that they will be heard. In his interview with sky sports, Kevin-Prince Boateng said “It is not enough that everybody is just posting a black picture now, it is too easy”. He added by asking why footballers are not speaking, “Why aren’t you saying something? A black picture is way too easy” and that is exactly how I feel about this issue. Sportsmen need to use their platform to speak out more on social issues. Racism is a big issue in sports. Why do sportsmen keep quiet about it until one of them is affected or they feel pressured to talk about it? If there was ever the best time to make their voices heard or do something symbolic, that time would be now. We need more sportsmen to ‘take a knee’.
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