The Difference Between Posturing and Doing

The start of it all.

© 2016 NBC News

Copyright © 2017

by Ralph F. Couey

Written content only

There was once a time when we could turn on the television on a Sunday afternoon and be treated to the thrilling spectacle of a National Football League game. It was a time when we could indulge in our baser instincts and forget, for a time, the often ugly world that lay in wait just outside our windows and those stadiums. For three or four hours, we could forget the bad things in life and just focus on having fun. Sports has been for a long time the great unifier. People of vastly different backgrounds and opinions could find common ground and comradery in the mutual affection of The Team.

But that fun often obscured the ugliness that lay below that glistening veneer. Racial minorities have had to suffer numerous indignities heaped upon them for no other reason than their race. Baseball, basketball, football, golf, all took unconscionably long times to integrate. And can anyone name a black or Hispanic hockey player?

I just finished James Hirsch’s exceptional biography of Willie Mays. It would be hard to identify a ballplayer who was more beloved than the Say Hey Kid. But as Hirsch explores the often brutal world of a black ballplayer, and to a greater extent black people in general, in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the reader begins to understand the undercurrent of frustration and even anger that inhabits them. And despite the best of intentions, this is something white people will never truly understand.

The Civil Rights Movement got its start through protest. Protest sustained the movement during its difficult maturation. While things are far from perfect, they are substantially better than they were back then. Progress, while helped by protest, was attained by people of courage choosing to undertake efforts aimed towards change. Protest that is not backed up by constructive action becomes an empty gesture. Also, the protests should be designed to call attention to the cause, not overwhelm it. It is a common thing for protesters to burn American flags. The problem is that the act is so overwhelming, so outrageous that the reason for undertaking the flag burning is completely lost. If you were to ask someone about the last few times someone burned a flag, to identify and explain the cause for which the protest was staged, I’m willing to bet you’d get a blank stare in return.



The current trend of protest has been players sitting or kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem. This was started by Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 pre-season when he chose to sit on the bench rather than stand. His statement explaining his act was this: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." Before the opening game of the season, he modified his protest by kneeling after a conversation with former NFL player and armed forces veteran Nate Boyer. That act of kneeling was picked up by other NFL players.

While the instances during the 2016 season were relatively isolated, this new season has seen that protest take center stage. The motivation is expanding also, in one player’s words, “to give voice to those who have no voice.” The effect has been polarizing, splitting the NFL audience into two camps. It has also had a noticeable effect on the NFL brand. Teams are reporting reduced attendance. The networks are reporting declining ratings. Even the sale of NFL-branded gear is being affected. President Trump, in an incredibly inexcusable set of statements and tweets has added fuel to the fire by referring to the protesting players as “sons of bitches” and that they should be fired from their jobs.

Now, the NFL, which once was the refuge from politics, is now the center stage.

The United States is a country that was born through protest. It is not only a big part of our heritage, it is a primary element of our national character. Traditionally, it is what we turn to when other more prosaic methods prove ineffective, particularly with the members of our government. They will ignore the individual sitting in their office, calmly offering their opinion. However, they cannot ignore the scene of a mass of people expressing that same opinion. Our exit from the hopeless morass that was Vietnam was fueled in large part by massive protests. While cumbersome and somewhat dangerous, they do get things changed over time.

The method of protest is every bit as important as the protest itself. The act must magnify the cause. The trap for protestors is that the act often overwhelms the cause. One of the most attention-getting protests is burning an American flag. Desecrating the flag was at one time a violation of the law. However, the Supreme Court case U.S. v Eichmann in 1989 ruled that flag burning was a constitutionally protected form of expression. Despite that, burning the flag still upsets a lot of people. The act itself provokes outrage and a guaranteed spot on the nightly news. The problem is that the method is so outrageous that it completely obscures the reason for the protest. People will remember that the flag was burned, but will have no idea why. Without the “why,” the protest becomes pointless.

Football is a business, yes. But to the majority of its fans, it is a game. Period. Games are there to take us away from the often brittle reality of our lives and we don’t enjoy the real world intruding on our diversions. Also factored in is the economic divide between us in the stands from them on the field. We know they make more money than us…way more. That they work way harder than most of us, risk horrifying and crippling injuries, and have 80,000 people looking over their shoulders on game day doesn’t make the divide any narrower. Beyond that, there is the sense most of us have that in order to change something, you must do something beyond posturing. In order to effect change, you must undertake the responsibility of actually doing something about the problem.

And that’s really the problem. Taking a knee on the sidelines is one thing. Going into those affected communities and building bridges between now and the future is an act that demonstrates that one’s principles are real, and not a convenient ploy for publicity. I guess that’s what we’d rather see.

If we see them directly involved, then maybe that’s the motivation for the rest of us to pitch in. Then, working together, maybe…just maybe…the problems can be solved.