What It Really Means When Black People Who Protest Are Called 'Ungrateful'
To be black and to be conscious and to have a voice flies in the face of white supremacy.
In a series of tweets posted Sunday, Donald Trump, The President of the United States of America, condemned the protests of black athletes like Colin Kaepernick during the National Anthem. He suggested that NFL players and other professional athletes (American citizens) should be fired or suspended for peacefully protesting racism and police brutality. One might say this is outrageous, but then, given everything that has transpired over the last several months, it is hardly surprising.
In mid August, the President implied that some of the Nazis who marched in the name of white supremacy in Charlottesville were “very fine people.” One month later, he declared that black athletes who protest white supremacy are sons of bitches. There is an obvious disconnect in the way many people in this country who have commended President Trump’s tweets view the freedoms that come with the 1st Amendment: Nazis and white supremacists deserve freedom of speech, but black athletes who peacefully protest deserve derision, ridicule, and the loss of their livelihoods.
At the heart of this absurd double standard lies the real issue here, which has very little to do with patriotism or freedom of speech or propriety and everything to do with white supremacy and the perceived ownership of black culture, black entertainment, black athleticism, and black bodies.
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