I respect you as a
player and as a person. I believe you
are acting with good intentions when you protest. Although I respect you I do not approve of the disrespect
for our country(and the majority of citizens) that is implicit in your protest.
I share your aversion to
racism, violence, and injustice. We
should by rights be allies in this struggle.
But when I see your protest I do not feel a connection with you and your
values. You may not have realized it, but
when you refuse to respect our nation I feel your disrespect personally. When any citizen disrespects our nation, that
person implicitly disrespects himself, his own family and community. We are all Americans.
We all know the United
States of America was not born perfect.
We are not perfect today. Yet throughout
our history one of our greatest strengths has been the ability to improve
ourselves. That was true in 1787, in
1865, and in 1964. Whether it remains
true in 2017 is yet to be determined.
You indicate that you
were motivated to sit with a towel over your head during the national anthem,
at least in part, by the riots in Charlottesville. Your words seem to demonstrate that you equate
the alt-right racists in Charlottesville with our nation as a whole, or perhaps
with ‘white America.’ If so, you are
wrong about that. Every society has
members who offend, victimize, oppress others, who generally act in
contradiction of the values of the society.
The presence of racism does not make America racist. It makes America a nation that is contending
with racism.
Numbered among the
citizens of this nation are some who have committed crimes including theft,
slander, rape, treason, and even murder.
Should we refuse to honor the United States because some citizens have
committed crimes? Of course not. Numbered
among the citizens of this nation are some who are racist. We should no more disrespect our nation
because of these flawed individuals than because of thieves and murderers. Racists
are not acting on behalf of the United States of America. They are in fact contradicting centuries of
true American values.A merica is not racist.
Racists are racist.
The United States was
founded on principles of equality. We
didn’t get it right at first, of course.
That’s why we had to fight a war among ourselves to end the evil
institution of slavery. Later we
extended citizenship and the vote to African-Americans, Native Americans, and
women. The struggle for civil rights
continued a century after the Civil War and in some ways continues to this
day. But progress has been made, and
improvement should continue. Please do
not blame racism on the nation that has enshrined your freedom in the
Constitution. Our United States
government and our society are not the enemy.
This nation and its people should be your (our) greatest allies in the
fight to make real the promise of liberty and justice for all.
NFL National anthem
protests do not improve our nation. They
do not bring us together. They divide
us. They disrespect the nation and
direct contempt toward institutions that exist to preserve and promote
justice. They direct contempt toward some
of us who work day in and day out to promote equality among all people. They create antagonism between groups and persons
who should be allies in this struggle.
We will not solve
problems by blaming each other, or the nation as a whole, for faults of the
past. We will not solve problems by
blaming each other for the faults of a few.
We will not solve problems by disrespecting the nation for the unjust or
criminal activities of some. We will not
solve problems by separating ourselves into factions and blaming each other. We will only solve problems by working
together as people of goodwill.We are all America.
You say
you want to encourage bridge building, not separation or hate. I believe
you. So do I. You should know that the national anthem
protests are creating big walls and resentments on all sides. Is
the message you intend the message that is actually being received? I don’t think it is.
You say
you want to speak out against injustice?
Great! Please do! The
problems you are trying to highlight are important, and I commend your desire
to bring attention to these issues so that our nation can become more just and
equitable. Can we find another way to
focus awareness and effort? A way that
will make all Americans of good will feel empathy rather than frustration,
motivate them to cooperate rather than turn away?
Let’s please
stop this flawed tactic
and begin to improve justice and equality in America by working together. Let’s recognize that the vast majority of
American people of all races and ethnicities are really on the same side in
this struggle.
Sincerely,
Adelaar Gryphem
