Colluding in Democracy's Demise ________________________________________________________________

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Enroute to becoming an autocracy, our country has spawned a privileged class eager to collude in the demise of democracy by punishing others for exercising rights usually considered sacrosanct. Most recently, of course, we have the sorry case of the NFL whose cowardly commissioner, Roger Goodell, has mandated that “all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem.” While his ruling allows players to stay in the locker room—and thereby invisible—during pre-game rigamarole, it also subjects franchise owners to penalties if their players don’t comply. Individual clubs, in turn, are authorized to penalize players who choose to violate the edict by coming on the field and kneeling during the playing of the national anthem.

​But we all know (or should) that standing doesn’t show respect if it’s forced upon you. Those players who kneel in heartfelt protest against their government’s failure to provide equal protection under the law, as mandated in the 14th Amendment, are just as patriotic (maybe more so) than those who stand simply because that’s the “acceptable” thing to do. 
 
Those who kneel are making a public statement in the most dignified, respectful—and respectable—manner imaginable. They’re not standing with militant fists in the air or obscene fingers raised. They’re assuming the posture of prayer. What could be less threatening—and more articulate? 
 
They’re saying this country must and can do better. It’s an expression of hope. Those who choose to stay in the locker room are (I hate to say this) perpetuating the status quo in which the whiter and more privileged among us look away, refusing to acknowledge what we all now know, thanks to body cams and cell phones and people willing to get involved. And what we all now know is that those who are not "white" are frequently treated much more harshly by law enforcement, the judicial system and employers than their caucasian neighbors . 

Club owners’ willingness to go along with Goodell’s cowardly stance is ironic. Wealthy before they acquired their teams, they’re further enriched by the talent and labor and deliberate exposure to danger of the very people they're now willing to deprive of the right to express themselves. 

Goodell’s decision is, of course, hailed by the Bully-in-Chief, who has gone so far as to suggest that players who take a knee

should "leave the country." Maybe we should forgive our struggling Bully. After all, he doesn’t read, lacks critical thinking skills, and is convinced that whatever he does can be described only with superlatives—the best, the first, the most, for instance. In his defense, he lives in a country whose Supreme Court created the fantasy that money is speech. It’s enough to confuse a guy.
 
But kneeling in protest when the anthem is played? There’s nothing confusing about that. It is a message. It is the equivalent of speech. Emma Gonzalez, Parkland, Florida school shooting survivor, stood for four minutes in silence during her recent speech at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C. Her silence was a message. Kneeling during the national anthem is too.