Colin Kaepernick has had some time to think recently - being out for the season tends to afford one that luxury. Of course, even if he didn’t get sidelined with a bum shoulder, it would be pretty hard for the 49ers’ quarterback - or anyone, really - to escape Donald Trump’s ongoing anti-Muslim rhetoric, which includes a calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”…. Kap, who the 49ers want you to believe is in their long-term plans. On Thursday, he posted a series of photos on Instagram, each calling Trump out for a different reason, and closed it all with a quote from retired Air Force Colonel Thomas Moe alongside the caption “Food for thought!”
Celebrities of whatever stripe- athletes, musicians, etc.- expressing opinions tend to be met with disdain. Conservatives hate the idea that prominent public figures might be willing to express more Left-leaning opinions. Liberals are less than sanguine about the idea of famous people leaning to the Right. The truth is that neither side’s point of view is worth more than yours or mine. From where I sit, if you can support your views in a sensible, intellectually viable manner, I’m willing to listen. When you can’t, or worse, when you support Donald Trump, you’ve lost me. There’s no logical argument to be made for someone who’s predicated his campaign on hatred, exclusion, and ignorance.
Colin Kaepernick’s abilities as an NFL quarterback aside, his Instagram post raises a valid question. What sort of America do we want to be? Do we want to be a compassionate place that welcomes those in need of a safe landing place? Do we remain true to our belief in freedom of religion, speech, and expression? Do we accept those who live, love, think, and believe differently than we do? Or do we pull up the gangplanks, tell the rest of the world to go @#$% themselves, and renounce compassion and love for our fellow man because we’re afraid of those who think, believe, live, and/or love differently?
The 2016 election will go a long way toward determining what sort of America we’re destined to become. The choice is as stark as it is grave. Are we to allow mediocrities who traffic in hatred, ignorance, and exclusion to drag us into a future of calumny and intolerance…or do we have it within ourselves to elect people who actually understand what America is and what America- the concept- stands for? Eleven months out, it’s difficult to maintain anything resembling optimism, but I have to believe that when all is said and done, the majority of Americans will reject leadership steeped in discrimination, rage, exclusion, and religious zealotry.
I have to believe that…because the alternative is too frightening to contemplate.
