Kaepernick, Reid and the Heritage

By DON ROLLINS

Not that it makes any difference to Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid’s many haters, but the two players who sued the pants off the corporation otherwise known as the National Football League — and as of February, won — have taken their rightful place in the long line of black professional “athletes-activists”.

Referred to by sports journalist/author Howard Bryant as the “Heritage,” this prophetic and storied tradition of speaking black truth to white power has played a key role in the wider anti-racist cause: although small compared to the aggregate number of 20th- and 21st-century African American pro athletes, those who have made public witness against racism have shone a bright light on the social disparities within and without Big Sports.

Some of these women, men and others have advanced equality by their very presence and earning power, others in more overt and collective form. But Bryant posits in his 2018 survey of black professional sports, The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, the rich tradition of African American sports activism has not proceeded in an unbroken line.

Bryant begins by suggestingJ6

a first wave of black athletes, focused entirely on transcending the color bar of their era — in particular the talented and defiant Paul Robeson, whose career was all but destroyed in 1956 as a consequence of standing up to a rigged US House investigation of his political views.

Bryant salutes the courage it took to follow Robeson’s risky example, praising Jackie Robinson, Muhammed Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and their contemporaries for their very public statements. (Ali in particular was a font of provocative quotes, especially after breaking ranks with the Nation of Islam.)

But Bryant finds the Heritage tradition was abandoned somewhere in the 1990s, as O.J. Simpson imploded, and prominent black athletes Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley fell victim to “greenwashing” — Bryant’s code for making more money than trouble.

The author describes a desert experience for black sports activism lasting until the uber-patriotic aftermath of 9/11, when law enforcement took on heroic proportions, bestowing on police an even greater white benefit-of-the-doubt. The results proved deadly as the nation witnessed a sharp spike in police brutality against historically marginalized populations, especially African Americans.

It was this obvious and steady rise in unprovoked beatings, torture and shootings that gave rise to Bryant’s new generation of athlete-activists. Legends Serena Williams and Lebron James are duly noted; but it was Kaepernick and Reid who dared register their protest in the NFL’s cathedrals of patriotism, complete with color guards, massive flags and soaring renditions of the national anthem. It’s fitting their example is given more detail.

All in all, “Heritage” is not an easy read for anybody, including progressive whites genuinely wanting to be part of the solution. While it’s no news flash Big Sports has for most of its existence been a bastion of white privilege — only grudgingly giving up its secrets and power — Bryant succeeds in using professional sports to show racism’s insidious elasticity across the American social order. We’ve a very long way to go.

All the more reason to celebrate Kaepernick, Reid and the resurgence of the Heritage.

Don Rollins is a Unitarian Universalist minister and substance abuse counselor living in Pittsburgh, Pa. Email donaldlrollins@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, March 15, 2019

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