Podcast: Taking a knee - Kaepernick and the demand for racial equality
Four years after former NFL star Colin Kaepernick first "took a knee" during the national anthem to protest police brutality and structural racism in America, the heinous murder of George Floyd put Kaepernick's powerful action back into the spotlight. From demonstrators in the tear-gas streets of America to Democrat lawmakers on Capitol Hill, we have seen them taking a knee in emulation of Kaepernick. A striking symbol of protest, not just signaling to the world the demand for racial equality and for the US to finally live up to its founder’s ideals, but also a show of defiance against the creep of state authoritarianism.
Just as President Donald Trump criticized Kaepernick on his way to the White House in 2016, Trump is now invoking the issue as part of his 2020 campaign. Assaulting those ready to follow Kaepernick's example and framing the issue through the lens of "Law and Order", Trump is arguably reviving the "White Backlash"-rhetoric which has been a key catalyst of Trumpism.
Listen to this podcast for a contextualization of Kaepernicks original refusal to taking the kneel and the wider role of sports and symbolics in the ongoing American race wars, including the links between the Trumpian right and American trajectories of racism.
Illustration: Matthew Hinds
