When you are black no matter what you do you will be discredited.
It is just a part of life, you aren’t given the benefit of the doubt and no matter what happens to you there is always a BUT…….
But, if he would have complied….
But, if he wouldn’t have run….
But, if they would just protest like this…
But, if he would just respect…
But, he got a ticket back in 1993…
But, he was arrested once..
But, he isn’t a good quarterback..
But, what about black on black crime…
Which is sad, but expected, just look at our President-Elect, who won the Presidency simply by lying and catering to the worst people in our country with insane rhetoric and borderline criminal behavior. He’s a rich white man, he can literally do or say whatever he wants and still become the President of the United States.
President Obama is a man of exemplary class and decorum but is still deals with vicious racism. They give Trump Nazi salutes.
Media does this as well, maybe subconsciously or consciously when a black person is involved, it is more about finding ways to tear them down than truly having a dialogue.
Colin Kaepernick isn’t a perfect individual, no one is. There are going to be things about him you might not agree with, but when you are calling him a hypocrite and trying to discredit his message because of a personal grudge, that says a lot more about you than it does about him.
Miami Herald reporter Armando Salguero did not like the fact that Colin Kaepernick wore a T-shirt with Fidel Castro on it.
Even though this was weeks ago, Salguero decided to ask Kaepernick about it again and the follow exchange occurred.
The reporter implies Kaepernick is a hypocrite for wearing a Castro shirt because the dictator oppressed millions during his political reign.
“One thing that Fidel Castro did do is they have the highest literacy rate, because they invest more in their education system than they do in their prison system, which we do not do here. Even though we’re fully capable of doing that,” Kaepernick says.
“If you let me finish, please,” Kaepernick requested. “The fact he [Malcolm X] met with Fidel to me speaks to his open mind to be willing to hear different aspects of people’s views and ultimately being able to create his own views as far as the best way to approach different situations, different cultures.”
So it’s good to have an open mind about Fidel Castro and his oppression, I ask?
“I’m not talking about Fidel Castro and his oppression,” Kaepernick said. “I’m talking about Malcolm X and what he’s done for people.”
Kaepernick continued to respond to the reporter, while still criticizing America for not being better than Cuba.
“We do break up families here,” the 49ers QB says. “That’s what mass incarceration is. That was the foundation of slavery. So, our country has been based on that as well as the genocide of Native Americans.”
I don’t have a problem with Salguero challenging Kaepernick on his claims, these are the things you open up yourself to when you decide to take a stance. I wouldn’t trust Castro’s claim about their educational system, but I also know black people have been held down and mass incarcerated to the point of hopelessness. I know as a product of being in school system that were primarily black and one that was primarily white how things are much different and harder for black kids to get the education they need and deserve.
My problem is Salguero uses his column to tell his life story and break down why Kaepernick is wrong, but in all those 1000s of words does he ever point out any of the positive things Kaepernick is doing. He doesn’t speak to all the kids that Kaepernick has spoken to. He doesn’t speak to how Kaepernick’s actions has sparked discussions across not just the nation but the globe. He doesn’t speak on the money that Kaepernick himself has donated and the thousands that have also donated to make this country a better place. Those are factual things that have happened regardless if you don’t like his shirt or that he didn’t vote. I personally didn’t like the fact that Kaepernick didn’t vote for two reasons. One, there are more things on the ballot besides the presidency like police reform which is something we desperately need in our country and two, to not give narrow-minded people who don’t like him any way an opportunity to try to distract from his messages.
It isn’t hard to talk about while still focusing on the primary issues at hand and the positive things Kaepernick at hand. It is fairly easy if you truly care about the issues, but it is also fairly easy to see who are showing their true colors.
Salguero tries to minimize what Kaepernick has done because of a t-shirt he has worn.
He uses words like fraud and hypocrite.
As a journalist you are supposed to leave your feelings out of it, but more and more it has become let me get out my take and scorch the earth. I understand Salguero has strong feelings on the issues, I am not cuban, I can’t pretend to know how he feels, but I know he has been a reporter long enough to know regardless of those feelings he is supposed to be unbiased and this was a totally biased and one sided column. If a black writer wrote this about a white athlete, it likely never makes it past the editor’s’ desk.
Stephen A. Smith just spoke about how black people should communicate better with white people about racism, which is crazy in its own right, but what is hard is when some white people or otherwise don’t want to communicate with black people in a better way. The issues Colin Kaepernick raised have been valid for centuries, maybe people should stop being combative towards us and more understanding.
No matter what Kaepernick said Salguero had already made his mind up, this wasn’t a discussion, this was a personal beef in the guise of media.
None of which has to do with Kaepernick’s overall message of wanting to end police brutality and racial injustice.
This only happens to black people. There is always a distraction or deflection on whatever our message might be. There is always someone who wants to call us a fraud or discredit a message. It is always about something that the person never said it was about. No matter how many players said their anthem protest wasn’t about the military so many people talked about the military but not about racial injustice in this country.
First thing Kaepernick said was this wasn’t about Fidel Castro oppressing people, this was about Malcolm X getting being willing to talk to anyone and form opinions. You can agree or disagree with that, but to try to slam it into your narrative that Kaepernick is some sort of Castro supporter shows what type of blinders you have on.
The secondary thing that I always find scary no matter if it is Sage Steele, Charles Barkley, Stephen A. or Armando Salguero is how many white people and specifically white reporters are quick to pat them on the back any time they try to discredit or deflect from the message and try to put the focus on the messenger.
That isn’t a coincidence.