Taking a knee has undergone such a dramatic transition recently that Colin Kaepernick, essentially banished for his protest of police violence against black men, may be the NFL’s Pro Bowl quarterback in 2020, even if he doesn’t play a down.
Members of Congress and students are taking knees. Folks all over the country are falling all over themselves taking knees — something that happens a lot when people my age try to take a knee.
When Kaepernick did it in the national spotlight, during the playing of the national anthem, it was courageous, drawing the wrath of the NFL and America’s many armchair patriots. How dare he! Or, as our eloquent president suggested, “Fire the son of a bitch.” When today’s warriors take a knee, it is easy conformity.
I don’t mind. Taking a knee is symbolic support for the victims of police violence and is meant as a statement of solidarity with a broader social movement. But let’s see if today’s knee-takers will kneel during the national anthem at their kids’ football games or during the Pledge of Allegiance during a city council or selectboard meeting. I think not.
The various media are filled with optimism about finally addressing police violence. Congress has bills in the works to deal with chokeholds, qualified immunity (when police officers are protected from lawsuits over their misconduct) and other policies aimed at changing a militaristic police culture. Several municipalities have taken action and, in extreme cases, are even proposing to abolish police forces.
I don’t share the optimism. Before the ink was dry on a House bill to address police violence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared it was “going nowhere,” rather like the most recent COVID-19 bill that McConnell described as “dead on arrival,” apparently missing the dark irony of his characterization.
My lack of optimism is not only because of McConnell and his Republican friends. They will continue to block anything that doesn’t enrich corporations, please the NRA, make Jerry Falwell Jr. smile or undo anything accomplished in the Obama administration. Curbing police violence doesn’t qualify.
The nationwide protests have been uplifting, but we’ve marched down this avenue before. George Floyd’s death was not an epiphany. The video was undeniable evidence of brutality, but so were the videos of the killings of Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Eric Garner and countless others. We’ve known for centuries that black men and boys are disproportionate victims of authoritarian abuse.
Those in power have had no choice but to respond to the public anger. Does anyone believe, for example, that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has experienced a moral awakening? He reversed course because of a pragmatic, financial calculation. And politicians are expressing their “deep concern” while aides take the temperature of constituents. As soon as it cools, the heated calls for justice will fade away.
This may seem cynical, but my lack of optimism is surely playing out in American cities. In the midst of nationwide protests over police misconduct, policemen in Atlanta killed a black man for sleeping off a party in a Wendy’s parking lot. In the midst of protests over police violence, police are tear-gassing, pepper-spraying, firing rubber bullets, smacking skulls with batons and pushing old men and young women to the pavement. Much of what they have done and continue to do was already against the law, but the law does not constrain lawless lawmen.
Many on the political right consider things like taking a knee or marching with a Black Lives Matter sign to be “virtue signaling” by liberals seeking to demonstrate moral superiority. I’m afraid they may be partially right, although there is indeed great virtue in anti-racist work. Marching or kneeling with friends is not anti-racist work.
I find this amusing, since “virtue signaling” taunts usually come from folks who are quite conspicuous in their flag-flying or ramrod posture with hands reverentially over hearts during the superfluous national anthem at events from the Super Bowl to Little League games. I suppose we all signal what we think is virtuous.
This has been going on for decades. There is a surge of activism and justifiable outrage over police brutality and other manifestations of injustice. And then the wheels of injustice just keep rolling along as the nation’s attention turns to the next sensational news. There are tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of committed activists who sacrifice a great deal to fight for meaningful change. But they were all there before. And America still elected Donald Trump.
I fear that this will be another example of what I call the “yellow ribbon syndrome.” Tragedy strikes, people briefly interrupt their picnics to tie yellow ribbons on the old oak tree, and life goes on.
Police violence is not a policy problem. Police violence is a racism problem. And racism is not a legal problem. It is a heart and soul problem. And until we fix that, this dismal story is destined to repeat itself.
Steve Nelson lives in Boulder, Colo., and Sharon. He can be reached at stevehutnelson@gmail.com.