Protest is Patriotic in Our Quest to Build a More Perfect Union

by Shawn P. Healy, PhD, Democracy Program Director

Like many of you, I’ve struggled to make sense of the national backlash against professional football players taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem prior to kickoff. As a former player and coach, I understand the reverence for the flag long associated with the “Boys of Fall,” but also hold a healthy respect for the freedom of expression enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

From a technical standpoint, it’s important to note that the protests are not protected speech as the players work for a private employer, the National Football League (NFL), and their contracts require them to stand for the National Anthem. However, NFL owners have stood in solidarity with their players in light of President Trump’s disparaging remarks.

By User:Nicky4180 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

It should also be noted that former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who originated the gesture a season ago to register his protest to the disparate treatment of people of color in this country, remains unemployed, yet seemingly qualified to fill an NFL roster spot.

Historic sports parallels have been repeatedly invoked in the past week, but a young boy named Billy Gobitas resurfaced in my mind. He was the Jehovah’s Witness punished for refusing to stand at school for the Pledge of Allegiance. In Minersville School District v Gobitis (1940; his last name was misspelled in the Court records), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school district, declaring that interests of “national cohesion” trumped “the hierarchy of legal values,” thus allowing states “to promote in the minds of children who attend the common schools an attachment to the institutions of their country.”

The Court corrected itself just three years later in West Virginia v. Barnette (1943) after violence was perpetrated against conscientious objectors like Gobitas during the flag waving World War II era.

Writing for the majority, Justice Robert Jackson declared, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion…”

Patriotism isn’t owned by one side of the ideological spectrum or political party. It can’t be force-fed or indoctrinated. Instead, it is the product of seeing the United States as it is: Land of the free? Yes. Home of the brave? Without doubt. But not without historic and contemporary flaws that demand acknowledgement and urgent action.

Patriotic rituals like reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or standing for the National Anthem facilitate an attachment to this ongoing experiment in republican democracy, but its depth comes through reconciling the ideals of the Revolution with the injustices carried out against racial and ethnic minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups throughout history. The truth is that protest is every bit as patriotic as these age-old rituals because it forces our nation to live up to the true meaning of its creed.

Regardless of whether we stand or kneel during the National Anthem, I would encourage us to adopt the sentiments attributed to Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

In fact, I’d take it one step further: Consider the sources of consternation on both sides of this emotional debate, search for common ground, and get to work on collectively building a more perfect union.