When It's Right to Oppose Your Country

What does America stand for? What does any nation “stand for”? Our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” references the “land of the free and home of the brave,” but seems less interested in preserving the values of the United States as it does preserving the institution of the U.S. itself.

The military context is the nation under attack. The British had just occupied the capital and was bringing ships into the Chesapeake Bay. Francis Scott Key watched them bombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore. It makes sense then that when he wrote a poem that honored the flag that flew over the fort, and the effort to protect it, that he did not honor the runaway slave that fought against his country. When they looked at the flag, they saw it as the flag of their enemies. They were antagonists in this story. They fought to overrun Fort McHenry and tear down the flag. Yet they also fought for “American values.”

            The fought for freedom. The British promised them freedom in exchange for their services. The government they opposed supported their enslavement. In the runaway slaves’ point of view America had a government that enslaved people.

            The presentation of the anthem at football games fits the meaning behind Key’s words. It is common for the flag to be displayed by a military color guard or for a fighter jet to fly over the stadium. Everyone in attendance, regardless of their personal beliefs, are expected to stand at attention. It is a clear display of loyalty to the U.S. as an institution.

            By kneeling during the anthem, Colin Kaepernick was resisting the unintellectual display and the violence he sees U.S. as an institution allowing. He said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.” He referenced in a tweet the killing of Philando Castile, saying, "There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder” (1). Castile was killed by a servant of the U.S.  and the U.S government let the killer go free. By refusing to stand up America’s flag he is defying the spirit of the anthem. He is honoring the tradition of the runaway slaves in the third stanza who also opposed the flag of an oppressive country.  I hear a lot of people defending what he is doing as “American” or “free speech,” but what I think makes his statement so courageous is his openness to defy his country and injure Americans’ pride. He is treating the United States as more than an empty ideal, and more like the institution that it is and he is holding that country responsible of its failures.

Pledged, Matthew Coughlon

Works cited:

1.      http://www.bbc.com/sport/american-football/41530732

2.      https://theundefeated.com/features/morgan-state-student-documentary-star-spangled-banner/amp/