Two celebrities have created controversy this week over their denouncement of racially based police brutality, but they used two completely different methods to get their messages across.
On Saturday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the national anthem at a preseason game, claiming he cannot support a country which he believes promotes racial injustice.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL.com after the game. “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.”
On Sunday, Beyonce brought the “Mothers of the Movement” to MTV’s Video Music Awards, and her performance featured imagery that could be interpreted as anti-police and/or pro-Black Lives Matter.
Same message, almost polar opposite styles of delivery.
First and foremost, while this was the first time Kaepernick has gotten publicly political, this was Beyonce’s second time using a nationally televised performance to convey her message. She received similar criticism for performing “Formation” at February’s Super Bowl halftime show, which featured some backup dancers wearing what looked like Black Panther garb.
She has a knack for tying her social agenda into her art, being just subtle enough that people can view these performances, witness the controversy she generates and genuinely not understand what the big deal is.
She may have pissed off a police union and Rudy Giuliani (twice), but for the most part, the buzz around her politicism hasn’t launched the conversation I’m sure she was trying to start.
Kaepernick, in contrast, left no ambiguity in his methods or his message. In the process, he started a rather revealing dialogue about the “Star Spangled Banner,” free speech and ingrained American racism.
This backup quarterback who may soon be cut from the 49ers has prompted everyone from Donald Trump to John Legend to weigh in on the national anthem, which a Sunday Intercept article reminded us is partially celebrating slavery. (Take a look at the little-heard second verse; it’s quite startling.)
He also inadvertently uncovered a deep racial divide in the way people view the national anthem.
On Tuesday morning, “SportsCenter” aired a roundup of NFL coaches and players discussing Kaepernick’s protest. They showed interviews with the likes of Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, former 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and a few other personalities, both black and white.
It dawned on me that in almost every case, the non-black players and coaches defended Kaepernick’s right to sit during the national anthem and even vaguely agreed with his overall point, but added the caveat that his actions disrespect the sacrifices many Americans make for him to have that right.
Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger of Spanish descent, summed up the overall sentiment among this group well: “I don’t know if the most effective way is to sit down during the national anthem with a country that’s providing you freedom, providing you $16 million a year … when there are black minorities that are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan for less than $20,000 a year.”
The African-American players and coaches, however, wholeheartedly agreed with everything Kaepernick is currently representing, with few exceptions.
Sherman, known for being outspoken, championed Kaepernick’s actions: “This country is the same country that had ‘whites’ and ‘colored’ signs on the bathroom. We’re still in that country, we’re still in that nation. And that needs to be acknowledged and that needs to be changed.”
Beyonce, even with her omnipotent presence in modern pop culture, was not able to provoke responses that thoughtful or sociologically fascinating.
Though she has acknowledged her views on race and law enforcement, Beyonce is generally content to let her music speak for her and let the public take from her work what they will. Giuliani fumes, the Beyhive scratches their heads and nothing changes. Rinse and repeat.
Kaepernick, a fading star who has been accused of not even being black, on the other hand, has been able to affect racial discourse through one action that happened to be caught on camera.
The lesson here? Metaphors don’t translate well into real-life change. Dissing the flag or national anthem, however, will trigger a response every time.
Joshua Axelrod writes about the intersection of entertainment and politics for the Washington Examiner. You can reach him at [email protected].
