Medium Announces A New Series By Kaepernick—And We’re Here For Every Word Of It
Written by Raven Pearson
image via Nike
One day, in elementary school, I stopped standing during the pledge of allegiance. It happened like clockwork: every morning, the teacher would tell us children to rise, state the date, and chant something we didn’t quite understand. “One nation…with liberty and justice for all.” Yet we must have known, even then, before we could read the news or history books, that justice in the U.S. wasn’t truly designed “for all.” I saw the taunting on the playground, the divisiveness, the implied “othering” we learned from adults. It was inherent in how we began our day—a limited perspective we were all forced to memorize and share.
I still remember when my father told me it was my choice to stand—or more importantly, to not stand. I still remember that, until then, I didn’t know it was a choice. That’s why Colin Kaepernick’s choice to kneel instead of stand for a hollow pledge resonates so strongly today. His rejection of maintaining the NFL’s status quo in favor of exposing racial injustice on a grand scale was a monumental risk to his career, but one that has inspired Americans whose pain and suffering have been silenced for too long. As a child of white and Asian descent, I merely stayed seated, because I had the freedom to opt out with little consequence. The eyes of twenty classmates were on me, but the world’s eyes were on him, a Black man carrying the weight of historic oppression.
Medium’s announcement of a four week series by Kaepernick Publishing and LEVEL, Medium’s own publication for Black and Brown male perspectives, has come not a moment too soon. The time has come for all Americans to confront the seemingly obligatory systems of racial oppression that are woven into the very fabric of our flag—those of which our pledge merely scratches the surface.
Kaepernick’s own introduction to the series highlights our true obligation: not to any flag, but to opposing corrupt institutions such as the carceral system in America. He states, “When I first sat during ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ in 2016, it was because I’d had enough…we need to invest in a future that puts justice and the needs of the community first—a future that makes us safer, healthier, and truly free.”
“As a child of white and Asian descent, I merely stayed seated, because I had the freedom to opt out with little consequence.”
This vision will be elaborated through multiple perspectives of activists and academics such as Dr. Angela Davis and Dr. Simone Browne. Though this four-week series should be longer, it’s a promising platform, and one that we need in 2020--more than our words can say.
Start reading this incredible publication here at Medium.com.
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