NFL gestures

The recent and varied gestures by athletes before the American flag and the national anthem are unquestionably expressions of First Amendment rights. But media attention to the gestures, the race of the athletes and the stance of the NFL and the President are all, in the end, empty if they don’t focus on the significant issues that provoked these expressions. The First Amendment and patriotism can be discussed ad nauseum, but that really just dances around the hard problems that must be identified and addressed.

We have no problem with the national anthem being sung in a wide variety of styles. We don’t pause reverently after the anthem at games. We just scream and yell for the fun to begin. We don’t complain that the flag is being used around national holidays to sell everything from cars to furniture to fast food. We don’t think it’s unpatriotic for people to wear the flag on their asses or wrap themselves in it for slick photo shoots.

So let’s not get whipped into a frenzy about these gestures unless we are willing to honestly confront the issues behind them.