Post by MOnarchsRule on Jun 1, 2020 22:03:55 GMT -5
By Michael Rosenburg
As the Kansas City Monarchs prepare for a second run-with-destiny, holders of a 34 – game, back-to-back undefeated regular season streak, today, we have a different focus: much of America is on fire, and Colin Kaepernick tried to warn us. He saw what many white people did not want to see four years ago, and he said what many prominent white coaches and athletes are saying today. Today, Colin comes of his first XFL start as the team prepares to defend its title. But while he and the team prepare for a third showdown with San Francisco, Colin is silent as he, like his teammates prepare to face the Demons. In one sense, Colin has already faced his demons. His actions have spoken volumes. Some truths make people uncomfortable until we hear them enough, and that is really all Kaepernick did: He told the truth and made people uncomfortable. He didn’t even really raise his voice. Contrast our current national civil unrest with Kaepernick in his last NFL season: a man, before a football game, kneeling during the national anthem. It seems so quaint.
Mainstream white America is going to reconsider Kaepernick at some point—the way it reconsidered Muhammad Ali years after he refused to go to Vietnam, the way it reconsidered Jackie Robinson and Jack Johnson. Progress comes in fits and starts, and this country tends to punish those who urge it to move faster. The reconsideration of Kaepernick has begun. Today, surely, there are still millions of Americans who don’t like Kaepernick, what he said, what he did, or how he looks. In fact, the Monarchs were criticized for signing him in the first place. But there are also surely millions who didn’t like him four years ago and who see his point now—or, at least, who understand now that Kaepernick and the athletes who kneeled with him are not on an island. Many other prominent sports figures shared his views in the past week. Before the George Floyd video elicited such outrage, Kaepernick spoke up against police brutality and systemic racism. He was told he hated America because of how he chose to do it. He lost his career over it. And this brings up the question: What would America make of Colin Kaepernick now?
The question can be asked in two ways. One: Imagine if Kaepernick had kept playing in the NFL - standing for the anthem for the 2016, ’17, ’18 and ’19 seasons, and then, after seeing the brutal killing of Floyd, decided to take a knee? Would he have lost his career over that? Doubtful. Kaepernick would have a much larger and more visible group of supporters, even in football. Think of how many white coaches (even if, largely, they are not the ultimate decision makers) spoke up in the last week, including college coaches, most of whom don’t pick a toothpaste without considering how it will affect recruiting. Think of how few of those coaches voiced support for Kaepernick in ’16 and ’17. If Kaepernick were still in the NFL and started his protests today, he would probably have a lot more company, and many of those who didn’t join him would be more vocal in supporting him. The second way to ask the question: What would happen if an NFL team signed Kaepernick now?
As a football decision, Kaepernick going back to the NFL is a tougher call for teams than it should have been back in 2017. Back then, he was 29 years old. He was coming off a season in which he threw 16 touchdown passes and four interceptions in 12 games for an awful 49ers team. He was clearly one of the best 64 quarterbacks in the world; his last coach, Chip Kelly, was adamant about it. He should have been signed. Now he is 32, and up to this season, hadn’t played in two years, and while his hiatus is not his fault, it’s still a hiatus. His chances of going back to the NFL are lower now. In fact, there was a question as to why the Monarchs would sign Colin in the first place. Some even thought why mess up a good thing by signing him? His transition has been seamless, his teammates love him and even though the team took a PR hit, they more than made up for it with his jersey among the highest sales in the league. Not bad for a backup QB who people thought was washed up.
In fact, as successful as his time has been in KC there is also the question of whether Kaepernick would accept an offer today, of whether he would view it as a public relations stunt. He wants to be a starter and has never wavered on that, publicly or privately. But he is a prideful, deeply principled person who puts faith in a few confidantes, is wary of others, and reacts strongly when he feels misled. If Kaepernick thought he was being used, he could say no. Any offer would have to be made in a way that he found sincere, from a source he found trustworthy, and there is no guarantee of that. (He did not believe the NFL's tryout offer last fall—on short notice and with no input from Kaepernick—was sincere, and this is why it blew up.). But keeping Kaepernick out of the league was never about football. It was, as former league official Joe Lockhart wrote for CNN this weekend, a business decision. NFL Owners decided, with minimal evidence, that the potential backlash was not worth it for their franchises. The NFL’s loss was the XFL’s gain. And so: What if the NFL came calling for Kaepernick today? Does enough of America view him in a different light now—after George Floyd’s killing opened so many eyes—to change the calculus behind signing him?
Monarch LB Brandon Marshall, who played six seasons for the Broncos, including in the team's Super Bowl 50 win, lost several endorsements after he kneeled pregame during the 2016 season. He also met with Denver Police officials in the weeks that followed about the department's policies on use of force. He said Monday that "at times you do get tired, weary, of it happening over and over again,'' but he is still hopeful based on what he has seen in protests seen across the country."That's what brings change -- people coming together, when it's a people thing, not just a black and brown thing,'' Marshall said. "You see people taking to the streets, it's a mixed crowd. It's not just black people. It's everybody. That is what it takes for change. Everybody has to care about it. Back then, not everybody cared about it.We need everybody to care about this, not to see it as just a black or brown problem,'' he added. "When people see this as a people problem -- and not a black person's problem or a person of color's problem -- then we can have real change. I look at all of the faces in the real, peaceful protests, and I see maybe we're ready to listen now. Maybe we're ready to see it as a people problem and that real, lasting, effective change can happen.'
It was easy for Kaepernick’s detractors to portray him as an extremist four years ago. It’s not so easy now, with the video everywhere of police officer Derek Chauvin emotionlessly choking Floyd to death while three of his colleagues stood by, with violence erupting all over America. (Chauvin was arrested Friday, four days after Floyd’s death, and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The other officers have not been arrested.) You might not like Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem. You have a right to not like it. But if you sincerely support the right to protest peacefully, then you should admit: That is what Kaepernick did. And it would do wonders for the NFL, too. People can talk about healing and inclusiveness and listening, but every statement from the NFL on this topic feels hollow and insincere, because this is still a collection of teams that blackballed Colin Kaepernick. It’s a stain on the league. All Kaepernick wanted was justice and his job. The first is hard to achieve. The second, he never should have lost. Some bristled at Kansas City signing Kaepernick … but signing him just added to the team’s image. So, even though he prepares to go back to sitting on the bench this weekend, in one sense, Colin Kaepernick has already won.