Donald Trump reawakened activism within pro sports — let’s give thanks – Salon

This occurred at a time when concerns about one’s personal “brand,” endorsements and exorbitant contracts were subsidiary to conviction and the pursuit of truth. The absence of justice in their world gnawed at these men, compelling them to speak out despite risks that far exceeded the financial. It was courage personified.

Recently San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick resurrected this spirit of protest in sports with his decision to sit during the rendition of the national anthem. Instead of deploying platitudes on Twitter or dampening his rhetoric to prolong his career, Kaepernick chose to address police brutality and racial injustice on the field and in interviews with the media. He spurred a much-needed conversation and successfully made America uncomfortable again about the inequities that our racial, religious and class-based enclaves allow us to ignore.

The election of Donald Trump and everything it represents appear to be stirring a similar activism in players and coaches. Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is now sitting during the rendition of the pre-game anthem in light of Trump’s victory. To explain his decision, he simply said, “America’s not right.”

Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who grew up on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, chose not to stay in the Trump International Hotel & Tower when his team was visiting Chicago to play the Cubs during the National League playoffs. He said, “I just have my own values and morals that I want to live by.” Similarly, at least three NBA teams, the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks, have stopped staying at hotels that bear Trump’s name.

In a tweet on Nov. 9, Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins noted that there is now speculation that no NBA team may visit the White House “for a while” after Trump’s victory.

According to Michael Eric Dyson, these individuals who have spoken out are animated by patriotism, which unlike blind nationalism, “is a bigger [and] more uplifting virtue. Patriotism is the belief in the best values of one’s country, and the pursuit of the best means to realize those values. If the nation strays, then it must be corrected. The patriot is the person who, spotting the need for change, says so clearly and loudly, without hate or rancor.”

Increasingly, sports no longer appear to be an apolitical refuge for fans in a country that is currently witnessing talks of Muslim internment camps, holding discussions on CNN about whether Jews are people and circulating videos of an alt-right conference where neo-Nazi sympathies were openly expressed. Sports will no longer serve as an insulation that will prevent us from the storm brewing outside the fantasy world of our big-screen TVs and billion-dollar stadiums. All efforts are now needed to ensure that Trump’s presidency is plainly seen as the frightening threat that it is.

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful that people like Popovich, Gonzalez and Kaepernick, who could easily have looked the other way, have answered the call.