Sports and patriotism: common ground

Sports journalist Howard Bryant (left) talks with Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, on Sept. 7 as part of the Clinton School Speaker Series. Photo courtesy of the Clinton School.
Sports journalist Howard Bryant (left) talks with Skip Rutherford, dean of the Clinton School of Public Service, on Sept. 7 as part of the Clinton School Speaker Series. Photo courtesy of the Clinton School.

In early September, Nike sent shock waves through the world when it unveiled a new Just Do It campaign headed by Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback best known for kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice. Thousands of celebrities chimed in on Nike’s polarizing decision, including two Arkansans.

Little Rock Hall High graduate Wesley Clark, a retired four-star general and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, tweeted: “I don’t see kneeling as disrespect for our armed forces or veterans. It is a statement about the discrimination, prejudices, and injustices that still age American Society. Nike and [Kaepernick] are on the right side of history.”

Dallas Cowboys CEO Stephen Jones, a graduate of Little Rock Catholic High School, takes a different tack. “We will support our players with resources and their pursuit of social injustice,” he said in July. But Jones expects more respectful ways to protest. “When you’re wearing the Dallas Cowboy uniform, and a Dallas Cowboy helmet, and you’re working for the Dallas Cowboys, you check the ‘I’ and the ‘me’ at the door.”

Many NFL owners echo Jones’ team-first sentiment. So do many millions of Americans. Just as millions of Americans support Clark’s views.

This is a complicated issue, to say the least. It hits on free speech, labor law, institutional racism and nationalism. With so many interlocking layers at play, it can quickly raise blood pressure and spark heated debate. So many layers often lead to confusion about how key terms like “patriot” and “respect” are defined, making discussion even more frustrating. In all this fog, however, it’s easy to lose sight of the common ground the two sides share.

This common ground is something ESPN writer Howard Bryant recently brought to light at the University of Arkansas’ Clinton School of Public Service. In a talk in front of about 75 people, Bryant noted that across the nation, the same communities increasingly produce both the athlete protesters and the military personnel some believe they disrespect.

The U.S. military has increasingly relied on minorities to fill its ranks. Racial and ethnic minority groups made up 40 percent of Defense Department active-duty military in 2015, up from 25 percent in 1990. Meanwhile, about 70 percent of the NFL is black, a number tracking upward since the 1940s.

These trends have set up a dynamic where black NFL millionaires who understand the risks of brain damage they incur essentially say, “I made it. I’m a gladiator. I’m willing to risk my brain, I’m willing to risk the statistics that tell me I’ll be dead by 60, I’m willing to risk all of that for the money that I’m being paid,” Bryant said. “They connect in so many ways with

the 18-, 19-year olds who don’t have a lot of options, who join the Air Force because there’s a way for them to get an education.

“Yet within this entire story we’re painting these two as opposites, when they’re really not opposite.”

Whether Americans support or denounce kneeling, most would agree that principle should not be sacrificed to profit. Nike made a calculated business decision in throwing its weight behind Kaepernick and absorbing the massive backlash which followed. So far, the gambit has worked. Within days of the ad campaign’s launch, the shoe company reaped more than $160 million in free media exposure and saw its online sales skyrocket.

Kaepernick supporters shouldn’t lose sight of the fact Nike is profiting off the popularity of his protest and the movement it sparked among pro and amateur athletes. On top of that, Nike is the NFL’s business partner, providing the league all its gear and uniforms.

“Then you hop on the Nike website and see they give police officers a 10 percent to 15 percent discount on clothing. What is this all about?” asked Bryant, author of The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism.

As for the NFL and other sports leagues, they have partnered with the military to create a culture of commercialized patriotism in the wake of 9/11. From 2011 to 2014, for instance, the U.S. Department of Defense paid NFL teams more than $5 million for public displays of military support, including field-sized flags and “Hometown Heroes” clips on Jumbotrons calling attention to veterans in the audience.

“I don’t see any reason why the Wisconsin National Guard needs to pay the Milwaukee Brewers $80,000 to sing ‘God Bless America’,” Bryant said. “If you want to sing ‘God Bless America’, sing ‘God Bless America’, but these are business deals. That’s problematic to me ... because there’s money at the core of it, these leagues are really digging in their heels.”

He added: “Neither protest nor patriotism should be for sale. This is not what we’re talking about when we’re talking about caring for your country, and wanting your country to be better.”

Evin Demirel is a sports historian and author of African-American Athletes in Arkansas: Muhammad Ali’s Tour, Black Razorbacks & Other Forgotten Stories. This is a video link to the discussion by Howard Bryant at the Clinton School of Public Service: http://www.viddler.com/v/5426d448.

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