Discussing
Colin Kaepernick and Christian Protest

Would you ever publically protest the powers that be, as Colin Kaepernick has? How does your faith inform that decision?

Excellent--thank you for this incisive piece.

Well, he may have a right to do it but to me is more likely political. We know how black people are killing black people in Chicago and I don't see rallies, protesters, civil rights movement,BLM doing nothing.

Where does the personal responsibility of the blacks to not commit crimes that bring them to the attention of the police and then fight with or threaten the police come in? A lot of the time the police react from fear of their own lives being taken from past experience with blacks. Increasingly, those police who abuse or kill suspects or others are being dwelt with, with many being fired or sent to prison. The large percentage of blacks who are law abiding good citizens, are being affected by a minority of violent law breaking blacks who garner most of the publicity.

Thank you for this piece.

I would invite John and Eduardo to dig a little deeper.

Black citizens do not have a special duty to be compliant. And the greater and prior duty for sworn officers of the law to be just, compassionate, and careful in their official capacity is the focus here. So it ought to be when there is overwhelming evidence that law enforcement as an institution is not just but targets communities of color.

Eduardo, I would point out two things in response to your comment. First: of course it is political. Action in public to address a national problem is inescapably and properly political. Second, if you don't see rallies and protests and community action groups doing amazing brave work in Chicago (my city, thank you very much) it isn't because they aren't happening. It might be because they are getting no support, no coverage, no headlines, and also perhaps because you have not looked.

Xavier, you make some great points here (especially the four you delineated for Christians to consider), and it is a national tragedy that innocent civilians are victimized each day under the guise of legality. However, is it not true that the most malicious destroyer of black lives is not law-enforcement, but drug and turf wars waged throughout our cities and the aborting of preborn Afro-Americans committed by "family planning" centers right in our own neighborhoods? (Average of over 3,000 abortion in the U.S. each day, with Black women being 3.6 times more likely to have an abortion than non-Hispanic white women (2012 CDC study))

Yes, we must protest against racism and police brutality; but how much more passionately and audaciously should we be fighting and decrying gang violence and the holocaust of aborted children, which take more lives than any disease or war present on this earth?

Sadly, it seems we are attempting to fend off hornets when in fact there are tanks blowing holes through our houses (divided or not).

I do not deny his right to protest. However, his method will not bring about change. More important, does his life, his lifestyle reflect the stand he says he is taking? Does he invest time, energy, his own finances to help bring about change? Or does he sit on the bench in that regard also. Jesus did not call to protest- He calls us to action. Not militant action but bringing change by how we live our lives, spend our time, invest our money.

I agree with John.

Yeah, Colin has the right to protest by staying seated. That's not the issue.

The problem is that he's also the victim of slanted PC Media-driven misinformation. And, so it would seem, so is the author if this blog post.

Those that criticize Colin for raising an issue that he is probably doing nothing else to address (I could be wrong about that, of course) have a point. And that his "protest" will likely have ZERO impact on the issue is something he himself probably doesn't recognize... he's not nearly as important and influential as he may imagine.

But the real problem is that his narrative about the problem is WAY more false than it is true. And BLM is literally costing MORE black's their lives than were being lost before they started spreading their hatred, slander, and mistrust for law enforcement.

Basing an action on lies is always destructive. Perpetrating lies is always bad. Standing up in defense of a lie is always foolish and erodes one's credibility. Change that is pursued in response to a lie will always be damaging to the very cause it is put forth to support.

See Prager University's video entitled "Are the Police Racist" on YouTube for documentation of my claims.

Colin is playing the fool. But it is his right...

Xavier, first let me say I really enjoyed your article and like Kaepernick it's good to make people uncomfortable so that they can think about issues. However it's hard when it comes from someone making millions of dollars from people with billions of dollars. I'm sure he takes great pride in making all that money from America. How about give it all up for the cause, making millions takes time away from doing the real work. So I'm not going to protest corporate greed when I work for a financial firm not until I'm ready to do something about it. Telling my co-workers that this job is terrible and wrong while I make a living off it just doesn't ring true. I'm not saying he's not a decent guy with the right intentions, but is this going anywhere? If the media stops showing him it's gone next week all of it. I hope he has a much bigger idea than just hoping the media sees him at football games sitting down during the anthem. I like what you said Sandra.

The problem with expressing contempt for our communal identity is that, as Americans, we stop caring what he thinks or accuses us of. He's already disavowed his connection to us. You don't stand respectfully for the National Anthem to declare everything is hunky dory. You stand to declare that we're worth it - that the sacrifices on foreign battlefields and on Edmund Pettis Bridge weren't stupid. I disagree with Colin's and Xavier's factual descriptions of my country, and that's fine: our mutual political identity allows for disagreement. But when you suggest we're not worthy of respect, that's contagious. Anybody who describes himself as a "social justice consultant" is pretty easy to figure out. His comments are entirely predictable. For insight on this kind of race hustler, read Tom Wolfe's classic "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers."

I guess it's easier to clump a whole race of people together as violent criminals and gangbangers who live in ghettos and fob and steal everyday than to open your hearts, minds, and eyes to what Jesus has called Christians to do. If any of you call your self followers of Christ then you should be upset as well and want to see justice for your brother and sisters no matter their skin color. It's easier to wrap yourself in the cliche that people of color kill each other so why should we care if the police do... They had it coming. May God show you more compassion than you have shown to your fellow man. When we get to heaven we will see no color and God never has...strive to be more like God and have compassion. Be blessed.

In Reply to Monica (comment #29010)
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Thank you, Monica, for reading and for commenting!

In Reply to Eduardo Mendez (comment #29012)
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Eduardo, thank you for reading and commenting. I see where you are coming from in noting this may be political, however, I would challenge you to consider the premise of the article: regardless of politics, what does our faith call us to do when the government (which is essentially, We the People) kills people with tax-payer funded bullets, and the despite all evidence showing illegality of approach (as noted in the recent Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor dissent on the Fourth Amendment), action (as shown in the brutal killing of LaQuan McDonald in Chicago, or the murder of Rekia Boyd...which the judge found to be obviously murder but released the officer on a technicality), and follow up (police reports are often found to be falsified in major cities, and as in the previously mentioned case of McDonald...even the political representatives at the highest levels work to cover up the murder of black people)...how should Christians respond? By critiquing the method of resistance, timing of resistance, messenger of resistance...or by putting their lives and words firmly against the reason for the resistance?

Thoughts?

In Reply to Eduardo Mendez (comment #29012)
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Eduardo, in the case of what you call "blacks people are killing black people," I encourage you to not conflate issues. All crime and violence is more likely to come from not only someone who looks like you, but someone you know. Over 70% of whites are killed by whites in America. With Latinos the probability of being killed by a Latino is exponentially higher than being killed by someone of a different race. This, of course, has much to do with segregation and affinity, as it does gun availability and poverty. However, is there a cry for calm in communities where white people are the majority population to stem the violence, gather up the white leaders and take them to task, and deny their right to protest if the government kills them off without consequence? No, there isnt. This is the fallacy of the term "Black on black crime"...it cannot exist, as there is no other intra-racial crime except what is fallaciously called "black on black crime." As there is no corrolary, there can be no precedent. Thus there can be no reasonable argument of its existence.

As for the reality of protests in Chicago against gun violence, I assure you as a resident and native of one of the top 5 most dangerous communities in that city, there is much--and ongoing protest. However, the way American media works, they do not bring that to light as often...much like black excellence and how poverty is at the root of gang and gun violence. I suggest you look into groups like St Sabina Church, Mothers Against Senseless Killings, Chicago Artists Against Gun Violence, and others.

In Reply to John (comment #29013)
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John, thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. Though I disagree with much of what you've stated, I thank you for being willing to offer your opinion.

Please see my response to Eduardo on "black on black crime" and I'd encourage you to not conflate community violence with state sponsored violence. It is akin to saying a woman has no right to complain about domestic violence when the country she lives in drops bombs from drones on people in Syria. The roots of one have little to do with the roots of the other, though violence exists in both. Additionally, it only distracts from the point of the article: What is your thought on the responsibility of Christians to not argue over HOW one protests, or That one protest, but why one would risk platform and pay to protest. What are your thoughts on my four questions, specifically the institution of policing being one that led Christ himself to the cross and bled his body out? Was that an instance of "bad apples spoiling the bunch?" They were just doing their job. This is the point of my article. What is order to the spider is chaos to the fly...the very laws that protect and favor you can mean I die without rights, and then become villified in the court of public opinion.

The fact is that those police who do wrong are empirically proven to NOT be dealt with. Consider the work of Jamie Kalven and other lawyers, journalists, etc who did the INCREDIBLY tedious work of issuing thousands of Freedom of Information Act requests to our police forces to see how your assumption really played out. The result? Of over 50000 complaints against officers in Chicago alone, less than 4% resulted in any consequence. http://invisible.institute/police-data/

In Baltimore, a federal probe found that over 80% of those people stopped by police were black, and less than 20% had done anything wrong, nor was any evidence of wrongdoing found on their person. Hardly any officers were reprimanded. Do you know what it's like to be Philando Castille, who was stopped dozens of times in several years by police...but not having done much wrong outside of having busted tailights or not paying the fees for the time he had a car issue because he was poor...and then being shot to death with your child in the back seat?

There is no such thing as a single bad apple when the seed itself is planted to divide the orchard. Law enforcement does exactly that...which is why we must look very closely at what consitutes a law in America, who is protects, and who it privileges. And most importantly, as Christians, who it divides and destroys.

In Reply to Daniel DeFonce (comment #29018)
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Daniel, thanks for the appreciation! I thank you for commenting.

As for your point about which issue should we protest more emphatically, I encourage you not to lump things together. Abortion is not the same as gun violence, which is not the same as state-sponsored violence. My point is that for Kaepernick, he chose to stand up for something that is true: police are killing black people and going free, just like it has been since America began and existed during the past several centuries (in the notorious Dred Scott Decision, a US Supreme Court Justice noted that "[African Americans] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold, and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever a profit could be made by it.").

This is important, just like family planning, and like stemming community gun violence. But they are all very different. For instance, here in CHicago, gun violence has skyrocketed in the past year. Note that in the same time, we have been without a state budget and social services like Meals on Wheels for elders (who are the primary caregivers in most poorer black communities) was reduced nearly 80%. Homeless shelters were shut down to the tune of over 50% in the past two mayoral cycles alone. 70% of Mental Health clinics have been shuttered since 2010. UNemployment for African American men aged 18-25 is hovering at 46% in Chicago. WHAT exactly does America think unemployed people, who's primary caregivers are relegated to political grandstanding sacrifices, who have been historically locked out of labor and housing markets...should do but turn to illegal ways to make money? The response of many conservatives is to go to work, however in communities like my own of North Lawndale, nearly 70% of men have a criminal background. People dont hire people with criminal backgrounds very often. Why do they have backgrounds? Well, look at Stop and Frisk, debtors prisons, and budget shortfalls leading to policing arrest quotas (see the recent lawsuit by New York Police Department officers against their own department because they were forced to arrest poor people...mostly in black and brown communities...who couldnt afford lawyers because the city needed revenue and could bill the state for prison beds, and more arrests put them in line for promotions because the point of policing was defined as arresting people regardless of crime).

Now, the weight of evidence is against the state, and the people supporting it. This is what drove Kaepernick to resist. Is that worth Christian support, or critique. Many can critique (as Jesus often noted of the Pharisees, who stood on the sides watching and judging the poor as they cried out in protest and lament about their situation), but we are called to act. In fact, after the Gospel, comes Acts.

In short, I do not think we SHOULDN'T be protesting all forms of violence, however, as Christians, we cannot rush to critique and slow dowwn to rally against injustice. The time is always right to do what is right. Do not look on the other side, when this side's injustice is already glaring and obvious. Do not play the devil's advocate...he needs no help.

In Reply to The Elk (comment #29024)
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I appreciate your words. I would say that a person's largesse and financial status has little to do witht their credibility. Like Christ said in his parable of the widow's mite, small acts mean big things. As we saw in his love for Zaccheaus, even the wealthy (once they agree and show that their wealth is not as important as their imperative to surrender their platform and profits for justice and love and the Kingdom) are tools for God's glory. Money means nothing in the face of Christ. I would venture to say that a wealthier person who has a heart for Kingdom would do even more for the poor. However, as Christ also noted, the world does not work that way--they would respond as you did: looking to devalue the messenger while not exactly supporting the message to the degree of risk that the wealthy person did. Kap stands to lose a lot by not supporting police and the war against truth about the killing of black people in America. Its a popular war. His money, and talents, only got him to the point where he could speak truth to power. Let us not, as Christians, devalue or deny the importance of that. Rather, let us support it. Not with more critique, but with equal risk and faith that even if we lose it all, God will provide.

In Reply to Sandra Wiens (comment #29019)
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Sandra, thank you for commenting. On your first point about his method not bringing about change, what method do you suggest would mean that all police in America are prosecuted to the full extent of the law when they murder a person, that black communities do not live in fear of police to the point where they have to warn their children to fear the police rather than see them as protectors...tomorrow? What method would work for you, that you are willing to do tomorrow? If you can tell that Kap's method would not work, then it stands to reason that you understand the reason for his protest, and the variety of available methods, as well as the validity of his claim (but not his method).

As for your second point, I would ask that you not consider his lifestlye (which has already been publicly supportive of the poor, to be clear), but his message. Christ himself sat with sinners (in fact, only sinners get to heaven) and purified them. That said, Kap's lifestyle of civic duty cannot be used as a tool to deny the relevance of his claim without showing the shallow regard for life that underlies the critique of the criticizer. As such, I would caution against the method of critique you have enlisted.

Your first sentence notes that you don't deny his right to protest...then say that Christ does not call us to protest. It seems you see the difference between the law of Man and the law of God. But then you conflate them. The law of America provides us the right to protest, but it also has responded to civilian protest with tear gas, rubber bullets, kevlar vests, armored vehicles, attack dogs, and jail cells for the poor who dare to speak...and all of this is just visible since 2014. As for Christ calling us not to protest, did He not essentially call John the Baptist to be jailed in the book of Matthew (Matthew 11 he spoke of John as Elijah and teh greatest on earth in His time, but John was in Jail...was he wrong to be in jail?) Did Christ not say to his followers that the guards (police) and politicians would jail them, torture them etc...but like James noted about struggle, that we should "count it all joy" when we go through struggles for righteous reasons? Is standing up for the sanctity of life outside of the legal structures MAN made, that destroy the physcial bodily structures GOD made not a form of protest that Christ himself modeled? There is no way to the cross but through protest. Let us be clear: Ceasar (the ruler of the government) had Christ crucified, at the wishes of the people who were "following the law," while releasing a thief back to them, and police escorted him to his torture site...then cut him open with a spear while "just doing their job." He was defying the soverignty of Rome by saying that God's law--the law of love, mercy, obedience, and justice--was worth breaking human laws. Christ was not here so that Rome could applaud it's "freedom and justice for 'all,'" He came to absolve us of our sins within our delusion of grandeur and soverignty.

When MLK marched, he did the same as John the Baptist and the others. Dr. King was a proven criminal--locked up 29 times! Now he is a hero. I encourage us all to consider which criminals will be our children's heroes, and speed up the process of justice by not waiting for the history books to show our wrongdoing--instead cling to the wisdom that says love first, critique later, act now...and stand up to show that Black Lives Matter because they havent in this country. Would you encourage your children, friends, or self to model after John and Dr. King? Or should they prefer the negative peace that the absence of justice provides the privileged--a life without tension, while in moral calamity? Your last sentence is apt, but I caution you to unpack the extent of the truth within it: "He calls us to change...in how we live our lives." Living like Christ can get you killed by your government. And no officer will go to prison for it. And your country will even ask for it to happen.

In Reply to Mel Vanden Bout (comment #29017)
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Thanks so much Mel! I appreciate your comments clarifying your points to the others.

A white friend of mine who looks like he could be a skinhead (but is a believer in Christ) was at a gym working out when he got in a conversation with an off duty police officer. The officer trustingly said while talking about race "One of the reasons I became a cop was so I could bust n****rs heads." This was over six years ago. My friend was astonished and responded to the comment as a Christian. The conversation ended. As a Black man in Philly I have seen the racism and prejudices exhibited by police but I also have four friends on the police force (three black, one Asian) who I believe (and hope) do an admirable job. Any protestors comments used to broadly brush a group are irresponsible. I agree with Kaepernick's assessment of some of the issues and as a believer I make sure to make known both sides of the story. I do not agree with BLM as regards to other stands taken on their website so I would not join them but I do believe that the young quarterback is doing the right thing in taking a stand that follows his conscience. Obey the (righteous) laws of our country? Absolutely. But nowhere in the Bible do I see a command to blind obedience to a nations flag or creed.

Glenn good quote "Obey the (righteous) laws of our country? Absolutely. But nowhere in the Bible do I see a command to blind obedience to a nations flag or creed."

Glenn, do you or would you stand for the Bible, I going to bet you would as I would. Do you stand for all the religious groups who preach hate or distort the scriptures? I'm going to say no, because we both know that's not the whole truth and what the entire Bible is about. We don't take a few scriptures here and there and fixate on the few that maybe we don't understand, but all of Christ teachings.

Are we going to say the issues Kaepernick is protesting is what all of America and the flag stands for? Also, I don't stand for pride in anything. I stand for Christianity because I faith and love for God. I stand for America because I have faith and love for my country. Wow is Kaepernicl blessed to be in a country were he can protest all he want's against a country who pays him millions for playing football.

Dear Xavier Ramsey:

Thank you for this. Some day, I hope that we can pry open such matters and consider the nature of Christian existence in respect to the only politics allowed the Christian -- the kingdom of God.

In Reply to Eduardo Mendez (comment #29012)
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BLM and black people are protesting there as well, just no press is there.

Such a good article, Xavier. As a white man from the suburbs, the place I need to begin is to admit that I don't understand the plight of the black man in the city. I meet too many people who would be my social "peers" who are quick to make conclusions about how (particularly) black men are supposed to think and feel. To me, I need more articles like this because I am thirsting for more understanding. I have heard what some white Suburban Americans have to say about BLM (etc), and the hatred, racism, and judgmentalism is palpable. Though I admit I do not understand, it is clear there is systematic oppression happening... and tho' I didn't choose it, I am by nature a part of white privilege (spider & fly). If this article can open my eyes to more understanding and compassion, then it's a step in the right fm direction for my own heart.

I have known Xavier for many years, and I had the true privilege of following his FB posts in the midst of much of BLM, shootings, protests. So I want to publicly thank him for helping me to process these events with more understanding and encouragement to be slow to speak and quick to listen. AND I would like to encourage Josh Larsen to tap Xavier to write a piece about the right to protest. He has amazing insight into the value of peacefully disrupting the status quo!

Thank you for sharing this much needed ministry with us.

While I agree that we should be addressing issues and standing up for righteousness, I believe we should be thoughtful about how we look politics and Christian duty. This article infers that the righteousness of Christianity has a duty to make a political statement about unrightousness. You could make the political point from a Christian perspective that Colin was completely out of order and failing to honor God for various scriptural reasons which I'm not going to go back and forth on in this comment.

But, As a Christian, firefighter, and former military member with a son in the military who has served in Afghanistan, as well as being a youth coach, I feel it is not the right venue for a protest. And yes , there is a right time and place, that's what wisdom is...

"Should we, as Christians, spend our time debating Kaepernick’s First Amendment rights or should we be finding ways to address the reality he raises: that tax-funded police officers in America have a long and current history of oppressing and taking the lives of black and brown people while facing little consequence?"

Sadly, I think the discussion taking place in this post answers your question...

I would vigorously defend Kaepernick's right to do what he is doing, and at the same time tell him his strategy was unwise.

Police and prosecutors are sometimes unjust to all kinds of people, black, white, brown, red, male, female, young, old, straight, gay, or anything else. Kaepernick's protest, by his own representations, are not against injustice but only about injustice against those of a specific racial group.

I will defend someone's right to limit his very public, out-of-context protest to those injustices against just one racial group, but at the same time suggest he or she will ultimately be counterproductive in doing so.

Consider the current President's habit of getting personally involved in local injustices (including those that turned out not to be), but only when the purported injustice was against a person of certain skin color. Has that increased or decreased the racial divide? Has that resulted in more or less effective -- and just -- policing? Have the problems of all kinds within the race community he specially advocated for gotten better or worse during his two terms?

The prosecutor in Baltimore decided to "put into action" the simplistic, race defined calls for justice typified by the protest style of Kaepernick (and BLM for that matter). The result: injustice.

Although I do agree that racial injustice needs to be addressed, I do not believe that Colin should have made his mark in the time and place that he did. It is disrespecting many people who have put their lives into jeopardy for our freedom.

Law enforcement does what law enforcement does. Romans 13 clarifies their role in society. The argument that law enforcement put Jesus to death is faulty. My sin and your sin put Jesus on the cross. Protesting law enforcers flys in the face of our biblical understanding the these people are serving God however badly or imperfectly they serve. The blame lies in our sin filled humanity that perpetrates hate, racism and violence. We are all part of the problem.

The kneeling protest has mistakenly focused its anger against a national symbol that represents the freedom to protest. While there are legitimate concerns raised, it ignores the purpose of the anthem - to bring a diverse group of flawed people together under the principles and values of a free nation. There is nothing unifying about this protest, and it takes away from real solutions to the problem sited. The message has been lost. Wrong forum, wrong enemy, wrong messenger (rich, successful African-American) who because of that flag, has the freedom to speak without arrest or worse.

This piece is even better on a second reading.

Thank you, Xavier.