In the United States of America, smearing, cancelling, and destroying the livelihood of people because we disagree with their personal, political, or ideological views always must be condemned. At least, as long as we believe in the Constitution and the right to free speech.
To that point, a little over four years ago, I authored a book titled "The 56," which was all about protecting our Founding Fathers from cancellation from the left. That said, I’m pretty certain that all who signed The Declaration of Independence believed in “Free Speech.” No matter how odious it might have been at times.
Which brings us to controversial athletes Colin Kaepernick and Enes Kanter Freedom. Kaepernick is back in the news because he just released his memoir, and the 10-year
anniversary of the controversial action that led to his NFL exile is coming up.
During the 2016 NFL season while he was playing the San Francisco 49ers, then quarterback Kaepernick was observed sitting during the playing of the national anthem for one game and then kneeling during the playing of the anthem for another. Explained Kaepernick, in part: "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 …" That explanation came after posts he wrote calling out police shootings of Black men.
Kaepernick certainly had every right to protest and make his feelings known. That said, it may have been more helpful to all involved, if Kaepernick attempted to view the issue through multiple prisms. For instance, he maybe should have considered the fact that literally hundreds of thousands of men and women in uniform – be they in our military, police forces, or fire departments – were killed, wounded, or injured in the defense of our nation or the protection of our fellow citizens with the American flag either waving near them or attached as a patch to their uniform. Could he have made his point without bringing that sacred flag into his protest?
Next, with regard to “police violence” against innocent Black men. About the same time as Kaepernick’s protests, The Washington Post reported, in part: “While many of the year-to-year patterns remain consistent, the number of unarmed black males killed in 2017 declined from two years ago. Last year, police killed 19, a figure tracking closely with the 17 killed in 2016. In 2015, police shot and killed 36 unarmed Black males.”
Obviously, one innocent human being killed in a police-involved shooting is a tragedy, which must be investigated and if the officer is found guilty, he or she should face the full brunt of the law. That acknowledged, in 2021, The Chicago Tribune put out a piece headlined: “40,000 homicides: Retracing 63 years of murder in Chicago.” The vast majority of those victims were Black with hundreds of thousands of others wounded.
Because of Kaepernick’s controversial kneeling during the national anthem and subsequent statements, he seemingly become radioactive to owners and general managers in the NFL. Like him or not, agree with him or not, Kaepernick was an elite athlete who was cancelled because he exercised his First Amendment rights. That should never have happened.
Enes Kanter Freedom's support of Tibet cost him his NBA career
The same holds true for Enes Kanter Freedom. Kanter-Freedom last played in the NBA during the 2021-22 season for the Boston Celtics. In October of 2021, then known as Enes Kanter, he publicly criticized China's "human rights abuses" and posted in part: "My message for the Chinese government is free Tibet. Tibet belongs to Tibetans."
Now, this would be the same Communist China that has collectively paid the NBA billions of dollars over the years. No doubt it is all a coincidence, but soon after those remarks, the Celtics traded Kanter to the Houston Rockets who then waived him days later.
Naturally, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver denied there was any retribution against Kanter-Freedom. Okay. But I would ask Silver what the NBA's position is on perhaps, the largest “human rights” violation of our time: that being China’s imprisoning, torture, and killing of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang province forced labor camps.
Was Kanter-Freedom’s career sacrificed in the name of billions of dollars to be made from the Chinese market? At the very least, it’s a fair question.
Just as it’s a fair question to ask if bias, prejudice, and career-cancelling moves existed in professional sports of the past, and … today. For instance, there is no doubt that in the recent past within the NFL when virtually every quarterback was white, bias, ignorance, and outright prejudice were at work to some degree.
The selection and playing of professional athletes should always be about meritocracy. It was not so long ago when exceptional quarterbacks – who just happened to be Black – either switched positions or rode the bench in the NFL, or were purposely never drafted.
All athletes, be they high school, college, or professional, should have the right to speak their minds without fear of retribution or cancellation. Just as they must know that the teams they aspire to make pick their players based solely upon talent and not because of any ideology or bias.
Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the book: The 56 – Liberty Lessons from those who risked all to sign The Declaration of Independence. Follow him @dougofskye.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Opinion | Athletes have right to speak without fear of retribution
