The National Anthem: a song chosen to represent the symbol
that is our United States has since recently been the point of discussion for
many Internet rants and memes. A song, chosen to pay tribute to the men and
women who have fought and in many cases died to protect the very freedoms we as
Americans get to enjoy, now being used as a platform for protest. On August 26 of 2016, Colin Kaepernick, a
quarterback for the San Francisco 49ners, was first given recognition for his
refusal to stand for the anthem during a national football game as a form of
protest. A protest against an issue that Kaepernick felt detracted from the
symbol the song was meant to represent. Not alone in his opinion, Kaepernick
was drawing attention to an issue of police brutality and a spreading notion
that the rights of this country are not reserved for all. The primary focus of
the protest stems from a wake of recent deaths of unarmed African American
citizens, such as Eric Garner and Michael Brown, at the hands of police
officers. While the deaths of these
unarmed men did raise tension between police officers and minority groups, it
was the action, or rather inaction, of both city officials and police forces to
curb abusive and excessive force of some officers that rooted the issue into
mainstream culture. As many journalist and law professors, such as Craig
Futterman and Lydia Lyle Gibson note, the lack of repercussion taken against
these few officers results in lost trust and respect for the police force as a
whole. As Gibson and Futterman mention in their article “Policing the Police”,
the “code of silence” among police officers has resulted in many good officers
being lumped in with those society deem as bad officers because they are viewed
as protecting the lies and sins of those that harm everyday people. A lack of transparency between police and the
people have not helped to better the issue either. Tension is exasperated when
video evidence is not available or not made available to the public until after
facts and opinions have been widespread for sometimes months in advance and
then it is revealed that officers did partake in questionable actions. As
Futterman and Gibson mention, many times complaints against an officer are
either found to have no standing or result in minor disciplinary actions.
Futterman goes on to mention that in Chicago, the focus of their article and a
focal point for the anti-police brutality movement, the rate of discipline is
about 3 percent in a system of nearly 60,000 complaints. It becomes even more
apparent of the lack of discipline being exerted on the issue of police
brutality when coupled with the fact that more than half of the disciplined
complaints were for personal violations such as being late for work or wearing
their uniform wrong. Furthermore,
complaints made by white citizens which only make up about 20 percent of the
total number of complaints made up about 60 percent of allegation found to have
merit. Feeling both ignored and betrayed by those who are meant to protect and
serve, minorities behind voices such as Colin Kaepernick have decided to sit in
order to stand up against an issue that should cause alarm to all Americans.
Police brutality is of real concern as it goes against the very ideals the
United States represent and that is liberty and justice for all.
