Give Jeremy Lane his Props for Joining Kaep’s Protest
By Ben Renner
Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane sat out the National Anthem before last night’s preseason win over Oakland and we should all take notice.
Before the start of the Seahawks’ preseason finale win over the Oakland Raiders, Hawks cornerback Jeremy Lane decided to sit during the National Anthem. When asked after the game why he did it, Lane left out some of the well-articulated and courageous words that San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick famously said after his decision to sit during the National Anthem less than a week ago.
Jeremy Lane didn’t use words and phrases like “oppresses” and “people of color” in his post-game interview. He only said he was “standing behind Kaepernick,” and would continue to do so until he felt “justice has been served.” Lane also added something immensely depressing to his post-game interview: “I don’t think it accomplished anything for me, or the cause.”
That last comment should be an eye-opener for anyone still booing and hissing at Colin Kaepernick and recent Anthem sitters Eric Reid and Jeremy Lane. Lane expressed a sentiment that I suspect many NFL players feel.
More from ECS Community
- Emerald City Swagger: Welcome to the Eye of the Needle
- State of the Sonics: A Big Step Forward in Arena Saga
- Kelsey Plum is Already Breaking the WNBA
- The NHL Needs to Come to Seattle
- Gonzaga Drops Frustrating National Title Game with Heads Held High
68.7% of NFL players are black and all of them get their checks signed by white team owners and punished for bad behavior by an entity almost entirely comprised of rich, white men. These black players have to feel like they’re trapped in the Matrix. They are expected to perform on the field and shut up about the egregious miscarriages of justice happening all around them or face punishment by the Great White Sports Machine controlled by these rich, white men.
How can we expect black NFL players, all young black men, to remain silent about the constant onslaught of racial violence being committed by the state specifically against their demographic? Jeremy Lane and Colin Kaepernick aren’t protesters or politicians. Their one tool to comment on the racist, thoroughly American society we all live in is the camera pointed at them when they’re on the field. Kaepernick, even though he was by no means the first athlete to not salute the flag, decided to use that camera for a real and good purpose.
Jeremy Lane took it step further when he said that his actions probably won’t affect true change. He knows he’ll face backlash for his actions. Or he fears that his actions will be swept under the rug and dismissed by Week One. But Lane used those on-field cameras to do more than celebrate a big play, he used them to stand in solidarity with a (I can’t believe I’m writing this about Kaepernick) brave player who decided to sit down and make a statement.
Obviously I can’t truly experience what black NFL players do, being a white, athletically untalented man. But the backlash against Kaepernick coming from other players, NFL personalities, and the racist pundits of conservative media outlets is careening from sadly expected, misdirected outrage to full-on dangerous absurdity.
Khaled A. Beydoun published an article today on ESPN’s wonderful The Undefeated website about Kaepernick backlash that has turned from anger about Kaep not saluting the American flag into claims that the reason Kaep didn’t stand was because he converted to Islam. People are so taken by this ridiculous Kaepernick-is-a-Muslim narrative that they’ve actually tweeted photos of his face pasted onto Osama bin Laden’s and photoshopped an ISIS t-shirt onto his body. Are you kidding me?
This is the world we live in. This is the world Jeremy Lane decided to use his only tool for protest as a black NFL player–the camera–to protest. In case you’d forgotten, black people are killed by police at a grossly disproportionate rate compared to all other Americans in this country. It’s a fact. The numbers don’t lie. (The previous linked image is courtesy of thesocietypages.org). It’s not an African-American problem, it’s an American problem. It’s admirable and necessary for athletes like Kaepernick and Lane to draw attention to American problems using the few tools left to them.
Next: Washington Huskies Football Preview
Whether you choose to stand or sit during your next visit to a stadium, I urge you to think about and try to understand why Jeremy Lane, Colin Kaepernick, and Eric Reid sat during the National Anthem. It’s painful, but the reasons are real and they aren’t going away.