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I still support it *but* I understand Zaha’s point. When Kaepernick did it, it was groundbreaking. The news cycle was endless & tinged with patriotism, politics & human rights. Then we as a society assimilated it into the system. Because it was easier than changing the system. https://twitter.com/espnfc/status/1362514799498829824
When Kaepernick did it, it was a top story. ABC, NBC, ESPN, CNN - even Obama fielded multiple questions on several occasions. Kaepernick was asked after EVERY game about it. It dominated everything. And it should have done, because what he was protesting was a worthy cause
As athletes did it the idea was to draw more attention to the injustice. But, as we often do with pretty awful things to make ourselves feel more comfortable, rather than confronting the true issues, we normalised the discomfort & took it in a different direction.
So what should be, in my opinion, a genuinely great opportunity for big many, many, many media outlets to give genuine education on things like the civil rights movement (where taking a knee originated) we’re treated to platitudes like “no room for racism” because that’s safer.
Colin Kaepernick and many, many athletes since him have raised legitimate points. But they get lost in the shuffle of trying to label what the knee is. Is it a gesture? A symbol? Is it political? What is it? The WHAT is the focus rather than the WHY.
So when you hear “no room for racism” what springs to your mind? Is it black people being called overtly racist names? Monkey and banana emojis? Is it police brutality? Unbalanced stop and search numbers? Disproportionate jail terms? What is it?
Football interacts with racism, generally, in a purely sporting matter. So player gets abused, news stories run, a club or governing body calls for action, take knee before game, don’t call black players a n**** please, rinse, repeat.
So if you only ever see it in that context, you brush over the rest of the injustice which an everyday black person may experience.
Joyner Lucas in his song “I’m Not Racist” (it’s amazing, listen to it along with watching the video) raises a point to a stereotypical Trump supporter “you don’t know what it’s like to mind your business and get stopped by the cops and not know if you’re about to die or not”
That’s reality for many people. And, on many levels, that’s WHY people kneel. How many of you still remember Danny Rose saying he gets frequently stopped by police to ask if his car is stolen? How often is that brought up in no room for racism? https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/england-footballer-danny-rose-regularly-stopped-by-police-and-asked-if-his-car-is-stolen-12041737
Not often, because that’s not sport right? Even though he’s an athlete. Because that’s a real world issue. That’s an issue any black person could face and have faced and will continue to face.
I’m not saying sport can’t play a part. Or shouldn’t. It has to. But it can’t simply assimilate it into the game and make it just part of the game. On its own, yes it becomes an empty gesture. It needs to be coupled with genuine education.
Michael Holding gave a wonderful, quite touching and, crucially, educational explanation of what it’s like to be a black person. This was wonderful. But I want to see more of that sort of stuff from big sporting media outlets. It’s important.
I feel like a do a thread like this once every couple of months. It’s tiring. Trust me it is. And you know what’s even more tiring? Asking yourself if you can do more. I try my best. I try to use my platform to educate, to have discussion.
I try to analyse what I can do better and what my place of work can do better and talk about that. I’m sure many people do. And I’m sure those many people are just as tired.
If you can, and I know times are tough, but if you can, support a charity tryna help the cause. Or even just read their material & see how you might be able to help without donating a penny.
https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/about
https://www.nacro.org.uk
https://journeytojustice.org.uk
https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/about
https://www.nacro.org.uk
https://journeytojustice.org.uk
Night all. Big love 
