Icheoku says instead of smacking him in the mouth for sitting, 49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick should be commended for using his celebrity status to once again redirect attention to a seething American problem that has seen hundreds of Americans, especially black Americans, needlessly murdered by the police. It takes a lion's courage and the dare of an eagle to so bravery to take on a whole nation, sitting down, while the national anthem is being played in a pre-football game. No one could have done it any better and boy did he succeed in bringing attention back to this scourge that is increasingly getting worse and in an American society that the world better knows as a "paradise" on earth; except that certain portions of the American society are still excluded and systematically annihilated therefrom.
It would seem that the American unspoken mantra of do no harm; don't disturb the groove; was violated by the action of Colin Kaepernick. A mantra which provides "see nothing and say nothing". if you want peace in the land and especially if you are a minority celebrity star or a person of stature. But move outside the drawn circle and you are branded and hated as evil and an ingrate and an enemy of the state; an anti American. They did it to OJ Simpson; they did it to Michael Jackson; they did it to Mike Tyson; they did it to Mohmammed Ali; they did it to Martin Lurther King; they did it to Rosa Park; they did it to Malcolm X; they did it to Black Panthers Party; they did it to the two 1968 Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos and they did it to so many other people who braved it to speak up against injustice and racism which is still pervasive within the American society. It is with the same fervor of shut it down and keep them silent that Black Lives Matter is being persecuted today. Their modus operandi is whatever rears its ugly head towards disturbing the code of silence, must be met with fierce shut down or cut the head off if a need be.
Icheoku says it takes courage to stand up or as in this case to sit down for a cause one believes in; especially concerning the issue of race relations and police brutalization of black and other minorities of America. There are so many issues in America which need urgent straightening but which many Americans would rather they play a Hillary Clinton thereto, not being comfortable with the truth hence they either clam ignorance or flatly deny their existence. In a country that once supported apartheid; whose forebears were involved in slave trade and slavery; which still treats blacks and other minorities as sub par; which identifies every minority with their place of heritage and origin and summarily prefixes them with 'this and that' American, while accepting and treating only European whites as true Americans without any prefix; that is still very much segregated by neighborhoods, schools, churches and earning potentials etc cannot be said to be a wholesome country in the strict sense of that word.
If there are African Americans; Asian Americas; Latin Americans, why shouldn't there be European Americans or even English Americans or German Americans or French Americans etc? Even original inhabitants of the land are prefixed and branded Indian Americans but European Americans, especially British and Germans, are not. So the question remains, why not use a one cap fits all treatment in this branding of every American? Alternatively, why not dissolve these boundaries and let everyone become and be seen and addressed as an American, without all the divisive compartmentalization that only succeed in putting wedges amongst the American people.
Instead of working and fine-tuning these sore points of the society, the majority white Caucasians would rather they are swept under the carpet and not be disturbed by the stirring and swirling up of any dust. Icheoku bemoans that the wound of racism in America will remain a festering sore until it is properly properly attended to, dressed up and cured, and let the healing take place once and for all. May be a good place to start is by ending the distinguishing and compartmentalization of Americans into groups of 'this and that' American. There is African Americans; Latino Americans; Mexican Americans; Asia Americans; Chinese Americans; Jewish Americans; Italian Americans; Japanese Americans; Korean Americans and every manner of this and that American. But why then is it that there are no British or German or French Americans?
Anyway many of those left on the sharp end of the spear understands what Colin Kaepernick did and are silently sitting with him as he sat in protestation of the continuing racism which affects literally everything in America; including a justice system and law enforcement that is greatly skewed against the colored and helpless of the society. If there is one American and an American is killed unjustly by any policeman, every American will see it that one of them was unlawfully killed and then collectively demand for justice. But hell no, it is just another black guy that was killed, so no big deal; forgetting that this black guy was someone's child and probably a father and husband too. This is the reason there is resentment among African Americans, the usual victims, who see the police as agent of the white oppressive majority and who are sent out to go hunt down black people.
Like with every other men and women of conscience of the past, who refused to stay silenced and take it, Colin Kaepernick will similarly be made to pass through the grinding mill for daring to speak out. They will try to ruin him like they ruined every other person who ever dared to stand up for what is right or as in his case sit down for a justifiable cause. People burn flags in protestation; people have showed their disgust with the system in so many other ways, manners and forms, but Colin Kaepernick sat down and his sitting will cost him mightily.
Icheoku is certain he properly advised himself of the consequences of his action before he took that seat as a butt of the butt-less. Hopefully he will whether the storm well, admitted that such protesters of the past, especially those two 1968 Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos suffered mightily for raising that their power fist in Mexico City. But Colin's message was sent and was well received amongst the oppressed minorities of America. It also reverberated globally and once again called into question America's high moral grounds of still subjugating and treating a member of its society with such decrepitude.
To Colin Kaepernick, Icheoku says know you that you have entered the pantheon of the greats of American minorities who stood up for what was just. Rosa Park, MLK, Mohammed Ali, Malcolm X etc will be smiling down from heaven, grateful that some men of courage are still abound among minorities of America. Thank you for sitting for the millions whose butt are invisible and be informed that you sat for Icheoku too. Icheoku says congratulations for a sitting well sat and know too that if Icheoku has a visible butt, Icheoku will sit longer and severally, more than the few minutes of a pre-game national anthem. Well done Kaepernick.
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