I can still hear the anger and frustration on the other end of the phone as I speak to my best friend from home about the protests that have been going on in the NFL. My best friend and I met in English class our sophomore year of high school. It was not a love at first sight meeting. We still joke about how she thought I was annoying and stuck-up as I would not speak to anyone, chew my gum, flip my hair, and stare blankly into the teacher’s eyes as if I was wanting her to believe that I was listening. Our friendship came about when we were assigned a project together in Chemistry, which required us to spend a lot of our time together. After about 2 weeks, working on our project slowly turned into going to Sonic for Route 44 Cherry Limeades while blasting our favorite songs, “Balmain Jeans” by Kid Cudi, “Summertime Sadness” by Lana Del Rey, and “Feelin’ Myself” by Beyonce and Nicki Minaj on the way. I still remember singing Nicki Minaj’s part and her singing Beyonce’s and how one of the biggest reasons we loved the song was because the music video was going to be shot 20 minutes away from our neighborhood in the city Houston. I went to her house after school for the first time two weeks after our project was assigned and the visit turned into a full discussion with her mom about Beyonce being from Houston. The next day she told me how her brother was impressed at how well I knew my Beyonce facts, considering what I looked like. Many car sing-alongs and Sonic dates later, she revealed to me that I wasn’t the “typical stuck up white girl” that she thought I was. My best friend is black. 

She and I have several times had a difference of opinion, but we always came to an understanding of one another’s side through conversation. Although our outward appearance showed our friendship in the extreme sense, black and white, our close bond allowed us to find a middle ground. Being good friends gave us an open and honest space to speak about our differences of opinion and listen to each other’s side. Not just hear what the other person had to say, but really listen and take the time to see a situation from the other person’s point of view. Contemplating my friend’s experiences and perspectives always gave me a newfound perspective and caused me to think about things differently. Too often we dig in on a position and do not allow ourselves to consider another person’s point of view. Usually this is because we are colored by our own experiences. We see things in black and white, your side and my side. This lack of open-mindedness shuts down the conversation. Instead of open discourse, the conversation becomes filled with hate and anger which only serves for each side to dig in even harder. I have been witnessing this recently with the issue of some NFL football players kneeling in protest to the playing of the National Anthem prior to games.

There is no question that African Americans have the right to protest.  We all have that right as Americans under the Constitution of the United States.  But, the manner in which the protest is made and how it is received by others determines its effectiveness.  I believe that the manner in which these football players are protesting is actually harming their cause by creating a deeper division.

Many people are fully against African Americans protesting at all, saying that they are being “ too sensitive” and “ungrateful”. They have achieved what most people think is success through hard work because of the opportunities afforded them by the country they live in.  They are living the American Dream.  Why complain? But this misses the point.  The players are protesting on behalf of those who are not as fortunate as them and for those who have been denied the same opportunities they have.  The protests were initiated as a cause for speaking out against systemic oppression against people of color, police brutality and the criminal justice system. Whereas there is nobility in their efforts, a taking up of the cause for the common man, there also has to be a conduit for the protest to be heard.  It does no good to protest if it can’t or won’t be received.  That is what I see happening with the protests during the playing of the National Anthem.  The words of the National Anthem are about the fight put forth by this country’s founders to preserve its freedoms.  The group that most represents the theme of the National Anthem is our country’s military personnel.  It is no wonder that a large segment of people in the country has taken offense to the protests.  It “feels” like a disrespect of the sacrifice they have made to defend this country.  And that is where the problem lies.  Two sides, each with deserving positions, are not listening to each other.  I believe the platform chosen for the protests has been misguided.  Protests are naturally negative in spirit but sometimes necessary for a message to be heard.  I believe the message could have been delivered in a different, more positive manner so it could not only be heard, but better yet, received.  America needs genuine change motivated by integrationism and spurred from the heart to achieve the ultimate goal of equality. Kneeling during the National Anthem supports nationalist views, instead of integrationist views, which causes a greater rift between the people of this nation and only leads African Americans further away from the ultimate goal.

There is no wonder why African Americans are protesting. There is a history of oppression in the United States that justifies their position. After all, racism today has its roots in the original oppression of African Americans by white colonial rule.

Before the first colony of Jamestown was created, slaves in other parts of the world were treated as indentured servants in which they could be freed after their time of service. In fact, slavery had a whole different meaning until it made its way to America. In the early 1400’s, the Portuguese built a trading post on the African coast after permission from an African leader that became an export of African slaves, by Africans. Slavery already existed on the continent, but it was not the type of slavery that our cruel past and brutal history has given the definition to. Basil Davidson describes in his book, The African Slave Trade, the type of slavery in which slaves could own other slaves, leaving no notion that whites were their masters. Not only this, but slaves were freed after serving their time which meant that slavery was not passed down from generation to generation. It was only until the first colony of the United States was founded that the oppression of Africans as slaves as we know it came to be. 

In the 17th century, a whole new definition of slavery, and the budding of the word “racism”, came along. The Spanish started cargoing African slaves to the New World in the midst of high demand for healthy tobacco plantations and the lack of Native American workers due to diseases which killed them off. In the new colony of Jamestown in 1619, the first 20 African slaves stepped foot in modern day United States. Instead of following the African culture, white colonists twisted the definition of slavery in their favor. Because of these colonist’s need for thriving plantations to keep the colony alive and relevant, they submitted to use African labor as permanent property instead of the historical context as indentured servants. This new definition of slaves as “permanent property” went so far as to baptize them, and give them Christian names, as if becoming a member of the family to be owned like property. These slaves were forced by their white masters to work the field, and they were never given the hope of freedom. They were enslaved for life (PBS). In 1705, the first concrete piece of evidence of racism and oppression in the New World was the Virginia General Assembly declaration. The declaration states, “All servants imported and brought into the Country [...] who were not Christians in their native Country [...] shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro [...] slaves within this dominion. . . shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master [...] correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction. . . the master shall be free of all punishment. . . as if such accident never happened.” This declaration essentially established a classification of people on the basis of race, i.e. racism, and set forth the notion that people of the African race are inferior and are subject to the authority of others. The use of the word “negro” shows how being enslaved became based on race, and the privilege that masters were given acted as a root for white privilege that still exists today. It is apparent that the colonists’ view of a successful settlement was one in which they were the ultimate authority, meaning that they were willing to force their ways onto everyone different than them in order to get what they want. Their selfishness and desperation for success led them to unthinkable intolerance acted as a building block for the ongoing oppression of African Americans throughout American history and the present day notion of racism. 

Throughout history, African Americans have stood up for their rights and protested the inequality and racism that exists in America. Some protests yielded progress and change, while others only reinforced stereotypes and caused a bigger divide within the country. The manner in which African Americans protest is what will either cause a greater rift between them and the white population of America, or it is what will yield peace. 

Even though it does play a part this argument does not revolved around whether the protests are violent or not, but rather, what the motive behind the protests are. In his book “Martin and Malcolm: Integrationism and Nationalism in African American Religious History”, James Hal Cone coins the term “Black Protest” in regards to the Civil Rights Movement. The two classifications of Black Protest are nationalism and integrationism. Nationalism in regards to black protest is an idea that means African Americans should reject America all together, and militantly reject the restoration of a friendly and equal relationship between whites and blacks. Since the founding of America, protests with a nationalist approach have failed and only resulted in more laws restricting African Americans from true freedom and equality that they are striving for in this country. The first example is seen with the Revolt of 1712 in New York City. The dense population in a small area led the slaves to more interactions with free men and more communication amongst each other. Their interactions with free men made them realize just how bad enslavement was, while their communication with each other led to much talk about a rebellion. About 27 slaves came together with guns, swords, and hatchets, and they proceeded to burn a building down in the middle of the city. The slaves killed the first 9 whites to show up, but they were eventually caught. The outcome of the slaves doing this was not what they had wanted because of the approach that they took. Stricter laws towards slaves were enacted after this incident. More than three slaves were not allowed to meet at the same time, and masters could punish their slaves for no reason at all and not be harmed or condemned for doing so. The slaves were fighting for their rights, but because of the approach that they took, their rights became recognized even less than before. Another example of a nationalist approach to protest occurred when Nat Turner started a great rebellion in Virginia in 1831. Turner worked for John Travis on a plantation in Virginia and he believed that he was chosen by God to free the African Americans from bondage. He rounded up 6 other slaves, and together, they killed the Travis family and stole their weapons for the more vicious attack that they would conduct next. Turner managed to recruit at least 80 more slaves and his instructions to them were to simply “kill all white people” (Oates). This was obviously a nationalist approach as there was no strive to bring together the people in order to discuss change. The result of the Nat Turner rebellion was even stricter laws against slaves, scared white southerners, and therefore, a created stereotype of African American slaves as angry, vicious, and violent. These two historic rebellions paved the way for how white Americans would view African Americans, and ultimately led to even more oppression of them in the country. The most prominent display of nationalism in protesting was Malcolm X during the Civil Rights Movement. Malcolm X challenged the other great civil rights activist at the time, Martin Luther King, by going against the idea of integrationism and supporting the idea of nationalism. He believed that because of the ongoing oppression, he defined black nationalism as “a loss of hope for America” (Cone). Although Malcolm X did instill a sense of courage and the self esteem of blacks, his influence was rejected by many. On the other hand, Martin Luther King Jr. supported integrationism and made a huge change in the world. MLK started nonviolent protests and civil disobedience. Because of his want for peaceful relationships between whites and blacks, his most influential work was when he gave his I Have A Dream Speech. Rather than protesting, he actually stood up, spoke, and made a change. Although subtle, it did mend relationships between whites and blacks. A modern version of this is Chance the Rapper. Chance went from being a rapper on SoundCloud, to a grammy award winning and popular artist of this generation. He has used his platform to truly spurr a change with the motivation of whites and blacks coming together. Chance won the Humanitarian Award at the BET Awards, becoming the youngest person to ever receive it. Chance goes to city council meetings and proactively fights for education funding, and also many different societal problems that include African Americans.

NFL football players are taking a nationalistic approach by directly protesting the anthem that stands for their country. 

NFL football players are not protesting violently. Although this is an excellent choice, the underlying motivation is nationalism which has proven to fail in the past. A nationalist approach has been demonstrated to fail for bringing about long term change for the better. The NFL football players who are kneeling claim that they are working toward making a positive change by protesting in this way, but their actions are more in line with a nationalist approach.  The rift that has been generated within different sectors of the country is evidence that their approach is unlikely to yield the desired results of a more equal America.  In contrast, an integrationism approach has a better chance of bringing about real change, and this is what the NFL football players need to realize if they are truly striving for a change. 
