My Message to Kaepernick and Others

MY MESSAGE TO KAEPERNICK 

AND OTHERS

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, September 12, 2016

If there is one thing that I am absolutely certain about it is that people have opinions and behinds and this is mine; opinion not behind.

Colin Kaepernick does indeed have a right to protest; very few people are denying that.  There are definitely places to protest and specific times to protest and he has chosen neither.  Kaepernick has a tremendous forum that most of us do not have. People WOULD listen to him if he were to make himself available to the news media, schools, meetings upon request, etc.  His message would have been better received had he done this.  Instead he chose to denigrate the American Flag and increase an ever widening racial divide in America.  Some might call that collateral damage to what he was trying to achieve.

There are two issues that need to be addressed.  First is the “brand” of the San Francisco 49ers.  If I were the owner and/or coach of the team, I would expect that anyone whom I hired, be they players, team staff or employees of the company, that they would be expected to adhere to certain rules of ethics and civility in order to preserve the “brand” that has taken years to established and only seconds to denigrate by just one member of that team.  Therefore, each individual has freedom of speech and they also have freedom to disengage from working at a company that I owned and/or coached.  His actions may have brought national attention to an issue that he obviously believes but in my opinion, again there it is again, MY opinion, his protest is based upon a false narrative that has been perpetrated by the group Black Lives Matter when they used the death of Michael Brown as its impetus for the movement.  For the record, HANDS UP; DON’T SHOOT DID NOT HAPPEN but that is what all their speech is based upon.  President Obama’s own Department of Justice has said IT DID NOT HAPPEN but even people of prominence like Hollywood actors repeatedly bring up Brown’s death as an example of police brutality and oppression.  It was the police officer’s life that was being threatened by Brown, not the other way around.  But people like Kaepernick refuse to let the FACTS get in the way of their personal agendas.  Now other NFL players and even some high school players are using their status to reflect very poorly upon the 49ers brand and their high schools.  They are in fact helping to create a racial divide in America rather than helping to erase it.  An employer has every right to expect his or her employees to preserve the company brand.  If they choose not to, they have the right to leave and I as an owner would have the right to fire/dismiss them from my employment and the key word is “MY EMPLOYMENT.”  Meaning I hired you, I set the rules as long as they are not illegal and I can enforce the rules.

This is not pie-in-the-sky theory.  As the Real Estate Broker of a company (I did not own) I was charged with applying/enforcing the company rules that included ethics and civility and were outlined in our Policy and Procedure Manual.  Almost all real estate agents are Independent Contractors meaning they are in business for themselves but they place their real estate license with a designated broker (in this example, me) that takes responsibility for their actions and business practices.  As the Designated Broker I returned several licenses over my 33 plus years in the business to the State’s Real Estate Commission because the agents chose to break those rules of ethics or civility.  It is really that simple.  Kaepernick plays on a team and there are over 50 other players on his team and they all have opinions on everything including the Black Lives Matter movement.  Chaos would rein if every player decided to protest every concern from Black Lives Matter, the IRS, the Federal Government, The State Government, the Local Government, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the lack of funding for the Zika Virus, lack of funding for the Ebola virus and the list goes on and on.  Where does it stop?  More importantly when Kaepernick uses the occasion of the playing of the National Anthem to protest, he is basically saying to ALL Americans they ALL are guilty of police brutality.  By the way, in his own words, “there are bodies lying in the streets” as a result of “all” this “police brutality.”  The ONLY lives lying in the streets all over America are bodies murdered by others but never let the facts get in the way of a personal agenda.  I would suggest that Kaepernick and others go to the following web site https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2016/ and look at the statistics reported by none other than The Washington Post.  It is an amazing site.  It provides you with a running total of Police Involved Killings.  As I write this there were 675 deaths and the web site provides a gray block for each of the 675 people.  If you click on the gray block it will provide you with as much information that the Post can provide regarding each death.  The overwhelming majority involved criminals with guns, a lot of them firing back at the police but that apparently doesn’t matter to Kaepernick.  Yes 675 are far too many deaths but ignoring that most of these involved people shooting at police or who are definitely armed and dangerous is just ridiculous; such an argument ignores the truth!

I’m not stupid.  Are there bad police officers?  Of course, just like there are bad NFL players, bad NFL coaches and owners, bad stock brokers, bad REALTORS® and that list goes on and on as well.  Might some of these bad people seem to get away with their bad deeds?  Of course they have and they will.  But if you listen to Kaepernick, he thinks this is something that is happening in every city and town throughout America.

My second point is what will happen to our country if a sitting U. S. Congressman/woman or U. S. Senator decided to sit upon the President of the United States entrance to the Congressional Chamber?  What about staying seated when a Judge enters the court room?  How about staying seated when the Bride enters the church?  You get the point.  President George Washington crated his Rules of Civility.  It is all about having a “time and place” to do things and in my opinion Kaepernick and other players chose neither.  Where will this all end?  If you side with Kaepernick, will he side with you when you decide to disrespect the President of the United States by not rising when he enters a room you are in?   I seriously doubt it?  Will the same news media that now says Kapernick has every right to fail to stand give you the same consideration for not standing for the President?  I seriously doubt that as well.  If you want to read all of George Washington’s Rules of Civility they can be found at http://www.foundationsmag.com/civility.html   If you have children it would be a good thing if you reviewed them with your children.

Do you remember Congressman Joe Wilson shouting “You lie!” when President Obama discussed Obamacare to a joint session of Congress?   He was demonstrating his “free speech” was he not?  That didn’t matter to other members of Congress or the media; Congressman Wilson was condemned by members of both Parties and the national news media over the incident.  Was it not “free speech?”  Yes it was.  Was it the right time?  NO!  Was it the right place?  NO!  Did President Obama lie?  YES!  But…there is a time and a place for just about everything that is legal and the joint session was NOT it. 

There you have it, my opinion, right or wrong, and I’m sticking to it.

Disclaimer:  I am retired disabled U. S. Veteran; I have very strong feelings/opinions regarding the U. S. Flag.