Before leading his team to a loss against the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made a point of refusing to stand for the National Anthem.
“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 Media 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.”
Recommended Stories
It’s probably no coincidence that Kaepernick has developed his loud, publicity-gleaning social conscience just when his team is thinking of cutting him for playing badly. If he is booted by the 49ers, he can console himself and tell others that it’s retribution for his brave stand — er, sit — for justice.
Ironically, however, and presumably unknown to Kaepernick, black people in America don’t buy his tale of national hopelessness. Studies show that although they are more aware of facing discrimination than whites are, they are also more optimistic about their future. A 2015 study of survey data by Carol Graham at the Brookings Institution found poorer black respondents are nearly three times as likely to feel optimistic and only half as likely to feel stress as poorer whites.
