Trump Trolls Colin Kaepernick and It’s Abusive
Trump spoke before a crowd in Kentucky criticizing Colin Kaepernick. You know, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, who knelt at NFL games during the National Anthem to silently protest the recent rise in unarmed black men being shot by police. Let’s break this petty verbal abuse down.
Kaepernick is stating that racism exists in our country, as well as in our police departments, which is leading to a large number of blacks being shot, as opposed to seeing their day in court. We’ve all seen the live streams in horror. If slavery existed for 400 years and segregation was only 50 years ago, why are people denying racism exists and that black people are continuing to die at the hands of racists?
If our country is based on freedom and we have the freedom of religion and of speech written into law in our constitution, then why are people, including the President, being petty, laughing and mocking Kaepernick because he is now in limbo unsigned without an NFL team to call home.
Kaepernick has donated money over the past year to various organizations, including Meals on Wheels, which is expected to suffer financially under Trump’s massive federal budget cuts.
He donated 50K to Meals on Wheels this week:
Thank you @Kaepernick7 for supporting seniors through your words and actions.https://t.co/2PBpeWh5lC
— Meals on Wheels (@_MealsOnWheels) March 21, 2017
“I will donate $1 million plus all the proceeds of my jersey sales from the 2016 season to organizations working in oppressed communities — $100,000 a month for 10 months,” Kaepernick said last year.
In November of 2016, Kaepernick announced that he made a donation of $25,000 to the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) organization, which is “dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all black people,” according to its website.
He’s also raising funds for Somalia with #LoveArmyForSomalia. Follow the hashtag to learn more.
We got the plane! Now it’s time to raise funds for food and water. You can donate at https://t.co/5BzrLjT3SO #LoveArmyForSomalia pic.twitter.com/sAKX2t9tdd — Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) March 17, 2017
So with all of his philanthropy, why would anyone criticize him over what has previously been paid advertising military salutes at a football game meant for entertainment? There are many religions that do not allow a person to worship false idols and some view the flag and national anthem as just that. To learn more flip through any bible and find Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 4.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.”
That’s when this guy, Moses, came down from a mountain and brought a couple of stone tablets with the ten commandments inscribed by God himself. It was a pretty big deal and guess what? Some people have a right to believe it or not believe it. That’s what makes our country great. You can believe whatever religion you want or abstain altogether. But what this proves is that Trump is in poor taste to criticize and mock a beloved and charitable American athlete. Yes, we do know his name Trump, it’s Colin Kaepernick. I mean, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King were arrested for speaking up for civil rights, so who is anyone to judge Kaepernick? You would have thought he did something illegal. Nope. Just knelt down for the slain bodies of black folks who died without their day in court. Now Trump is continuing to let loose on Kaepernick with his verbal abuse.
So should those people be made to feel that they are not equal or hated in our society? Do they deserve to be called anti-American when they speak up for themselves? Based on the violent history of what slaves endured in this country, along with the brutal racism and violence of Jim Crow and segregation, why would anyone care about the continued support for equal rights?
Trump in all of his pettiness, wants to take credit for the hard time Kaepernick is having, with no NFL team picking him up yet. What Trump is doing is a form of dismissiveness and verbal abuse, online and in public. This abuse is a tactic to derail those standing up quietly for human rights.
Trump criticized Kaepernick. “And you know, your San Francisco quarterback,” Trump told the rally. “…it was reported that NFL owners don’t want to pick him up because they don’t want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump. Do you believe that? I just saw that. I just saw that. I said if I remember that one I’m gonna report it to the people of the Kentucky. Because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.”
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Trump is reporting it to his fans in Kentucky because he knows many don’t support black people when they stand up for the lives and rights of black people. This is nothing new. Blacks were beaten, killed, raped and hosed down and many of the victims of this racial violence are still alive today. Many racists have passed that hatred down to their children.
Trump is using an innocent man, who wanted to quietly shed light on police brutality, as a story line to stroke his ego at a rally. Why would you want to take credit for a man not being able to do his job? Why would you brag that people are scared of your nasty tweets? Why would you repeat such a story?
Trump is keeping his fan base alive with fear and hate, bragging about banning Muslims, calling Mexicans rapists, calling people crooked when he is no saint, building a wall, mocking an unsigned black pro player, making claims of Obama wiretapping and not providing receipts and calling people of color “the blacks.”
He can only ride his train of hate so long. Deep down his fans are not stupid. They may have gotten caught up in his fake promises of jobs, healthcare and making America great again. But it’s only a matter of time before they see their healthcare gone, jobs that haven’t returned, substance abuse no longer covered in their health policy or rape victims having no where to turn for women’s health care. His fans know right from wrong. They know deep down that if someone was needed to save their life, they wouldn’t care what color or race that person was or if he stood for the flag that day.
Trump may feel like he’s on cloud nine right now, but we have a nation of strong, ethical, thoughtful, caring and intelligent individuals on both sides of the political fence. Some just made a mistake. We will not stay silent. We will not allow him to mock black people, try and ruin the livelihood of all of the media and their families by calling them fake news, destroying families of Mexicans and Muslims, mocking disabled people, calling women ugly and fat, and everyone else that he tries to run over like a bus with his rhetoric.
We will not accept negativity and verbal abuse as the new normal. Negativity and his nasty tweets are not and will never be, normal.
Love is the only normal and we’re asking Republicans and Democrats, and every political party in between, to find it, show it and not bring havoc to our country.
There is more love in our nation than hate, and we need to show him one person at a time by spreading kindness, tolerance, and love daily.
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