{"id":31423,"date":"2018-09-13T09:46:18","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T13:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/?p=31423"},"modified":"2019-04-25T13:39:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T17:39:52","slug":"what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/","title":{"rendered":"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another opening NFL weekend is over, leaving me ambivalent about another upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/a>

Christopher Arps<\/p><\/div>\n

Admittedly, part of it stems from the Rams being yanked from my hometown and sent back to Los Angeles. But my ambivalence mostly comes from NFL players still taking a knee during the national anthem and disrespecting the American flag \u2014 even if unintentionally.<\/p>\n

Social obligations kept me from watching last Sunday, but I didn\u2019t even try to sneak a peek on my phone. I suspect my viewing habits this season will match the\u00a0same pattern as the last two years. I\u2019ll watch and follow my favorite team \u2014 the Dallas Cowboys \u2014 but not really care about the rest. Maybe I\u2019ll get more interested during the playoff run and Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

With ratings down for opening weekend, I suspect many NFL fans are just like me.<\/p>\n

The political left has mischaracterized the outrage fans have displayed towards Colin Kaepernick and kneeling players as \u201cun-American\u201d and that their outrage infringes on their First Amendment rights. Nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n

In my view, fans believe it is disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem. We don\u2019t want to see or hear someone\u2019s political speech or opinions. We want to escape for a few hours to watch great athletes entertain us. Especially when we\u2019ve paid a lot of money to watch.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know many jobs in America where you can protest societal grievances on your employer\u2019s premises and time. I also don\u2019t know many jobs where your employer has to allow you to negatively affect their financial bottom line.<\/p>\n

Kaepernick and any NFL player have the right to express their First Amendment rights on their own time with their own resources. That\u2019s the rub for so many of us content to miss the games.<\/p>\n

It saddens me to see a game that I loved and played passionately as a youth used as a political football (no pun intended) to advance an agenda telling me that scores of unarmed black men are being gunned down by rogue white police officers. In fact, police shootings are a statistical rarity.\u00a0According to a recent W<\/a>ashington<\/a> Post<\/a> study:<\/p>\n

The number of deadly police shootings of unarmed people has generally declined since 2015 even as the tally of fatal shootings by law enforcement is on pace to hit nearly 1,000 for the fourth year in a row\u2026 Fatal shootings of unarmed black men \u2014 such as the high-profile case in March of\u00a0Stephon Clark of Sacramento \u2014 are among the kinds of killings that have fallen. Criminologists said the downturn in the number of cases and their analysis of the data indicate that evidence of racial bias by police who shoot and kill unarmed blacks has also declined but not disappeared.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But leftists have turned protest, once a tool of the truly powerless to get the attention of the powerful, into the first resort for anything they are unhappy about or don\u2019t agree with.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t like the outcome of an election? Protest! Don\u2019t like the outcome of a jury verdict? Protest! Don\u2019t like the fact you lost your job as a starting quarterback because you sucked? Protest!<\/p>\n

Eventually, a \u201cChicken Little\u201d\u00a0or\u00a0\u201cBoy Who Cried Wolf\u201d\u00a0effect kicks in, and protesting loses its potency. Noted black conservative Shelby Steele<\/a>\u00a0noted a\u00a0misperception by many African-Americans of continued systematically oppressed:<\/p>\n

The breaking news here is precisely that, that our oppression is over. It\u2019s just over. We can\u2019t organize ourselves any longer fighting against a society that doesn\u2019t want us to be free. Society today wants us to be free. Maybe they love us, maybe they don\u2019t, but they want us to be free, and that is a revolutionary change, a transformation probably only possible in the United States, but we are now free. The problem that we have as blacks, as minorities, is what I call the shock of freedom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s unfortunate that Nike decided \u2014 in the name of the almighty dollar \u2014 to divide instead of bring our country together. After three years of protests, and now a multi-million dollar ad campaign, I still don\u2019t know what Kaepernick really sacrificed.<\/p>\n

Christopher Arps<\/a>, a member of the Project 21 national advisory council, is a managing partner with the digital media and political consulting firm Capitol Consulting Group LLC. He is also the co-founder of Move-On-Up.org, a 43-state network of conservative and moderate black Americans. This piece originally appeared at\u00a0The Daily Caller<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

\n

New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author, and not necessarily those of Project 21<\/a>, other Project 21 members, or the National Center for Public Policy Research, its board or staff.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another opening NFL weekend is over, leaving me ambivalent about another upcoming season. Admittedly, part of it stems from the Rams being yanked from my hometown and sent back to Los Angeles. But my ambivalence mostly comes from NFL players still taking a knee during…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":31110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,60],"tags":[84],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps - The National Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The National Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The National Center\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ca6710c21895f6ce418b5cc391bb6f\"},\"headline\":\"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-13T13:46:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-25T17:39:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/\"},\"wordCount\":802,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Project 21 Commentary\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Project 21\",\"Project 21 Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/\",\"name\":\"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps - The National Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-13T13:46:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-25T17:39:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg\",\"width\":1028,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/\",\"name\":\"The National Center\",\"description\":\"For Public Policy Research\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The National Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sticky-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sticky-logo.png\",\"width\":278,\"height\":80,\"caption\":\"The National Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NCPPR\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NationalCenter\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCFrgtYxKOBuDqXavBuK0FFA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ca6710c21895f6ce418b5cc391bb6f\",\"name\":\"The National Center\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30c3aeea07d32a43f7b0fba644d96645?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30c3aeea07d32a43f7b0fba644d96645?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The National Center\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/author\/thenationalcenter\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps - The National Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The National Center","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/"},"author":{"name":"The National Center","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ca6710c21895f6ce418b5cc391bb6f"},"headline":"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps","datePublished":"2018-09-13T13:46:18+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-25T17:39:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/"},"wordCount":802,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg","keywords":["Project 21 Commentary"],"articleSection":["Project 21","Project 21 Commentary"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/","url":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/","name":"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps - The National Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg","datePublished":"2018-09-13T13:46:18+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-25T17:39:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/NFLkneel-min.jpeg","width":1028,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/2018\/09\/13\/what-has-colin-kaepernick-really-sacrificed-by-christopher-arps\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Has Colin Kaepernick Really Sacrificed? by Christopher Arps"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/","name":"The National Center","description":"For Public Policy Research","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#organization","name":"The National Center","url":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sticky-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sticky-logo.png","width":278,"height":80,"caption":"The National Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NCPPR","https:\/\/twitter.com\/NationalCenter","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCFrgtYxKOBuDqXavBuK0FFA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ca6710c21895f6ce418b5cc391bb6f","name":"The National Center","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30c3aeea07d32a43f7b0fba644d96645?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/30c3aeea07d32a43f7b0fba644d96645?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The National Center"},"url":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/ncppr\/author\/thenationalcenter\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31423"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32556,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423\/revisions\/32556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}