A collection of Major League Baseball players has started kneeling for the national anthem as baseball makes its return to live games. Comments from Angels reliever Keynan Middleton stood out: “Through this, I strive to be a voice for unity.”
One would think that the persistence of these protests and the resistance to them would dispel any notion of them being unifying. In 2018, 54% of voters opposed the protests, and even after a nationwide push by athletes and the media to make the protests acceptable, a sizable minority, 36%, still oppose them, with 12% unsure.
It’s possible that the number is even higher: More than 62% of the public said they self-censor their political beliefs, including 52% of liberals. But even then, a sizable minority said that protesting the anthem is inappropriate. One thing that implies is that such protests are not unifying.
The anthem protests are impossible to square with the intent of Colin Kaepernick, who started them back in 2016. MLB took to its official Twitter account to say it was “never about the flag,” whereas Kaepernick said when he started the protests, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” The protest was always about the flag, which again makes the idea absurd that it can be unifying for the country.
The American flag is supposed to be our unifying symbol already. The flag represents the American ideals of liberty and justice for all. It symbolizes that we are all united in the American project, one that is incomplete to be sure but always working to improve what has already cemented itself as the greatest and the freest country in world history.
With all due respect to Middleton and the other players, who I assume are sincere (unlike Kaepernick before them), you can’t unify the country by protesting against that which symbolizes it. You make the flag the object of your protest if you agree with the social justice movement’s claim that America is inherently evil. This protest’s aim is to sow discord while also driving away those who otherwise would warm to the cause. It’s a failure on two fronts.
The vast majority of people agree that George Floyd was murdered, and it is nearly impossible to imagine his accused killers getting off the hook. Police reform has been put on the table. One of the great things about our flag is that the republic for which it stands is a place capable of systemic change in the face of injustice. This is, again, why the protest against the flag itself is so inappropriate.
The bumper sticker slogans of “systemic racism” and “fighting injustice” do nothing to explain the purpose of these protests. They don’t help fix anything. And rather than unify, they divide the country down the middle.
