Imrem: Maybe uncomfortable, but peaceful protest is the American Way

What Colin Kaepernick did last week can be viewed two ways.

The 49ers quarterback either insulted the men and women who went to war for this country, or he affirmed the freedoms they fought for.

I believe the latter but respect that others believe the former.

What an irony it would have been if Kaepernick took his stand sitting down in Soldier Field, a memorial to Americans who died in combat.

Imagine a player protesting social injustice by not standing for the national anthem in a stadium with that name and history.

Chicago Bears fans just might think that Kaepernick - who is biracial and was adopted and raised by a white couple - isn't grateful for the opportunities America afforded him.

Then again, race relations are so tense in Chicago that Kaepernick's sitting position during the anthem might be viewed as appropriate.

Kaepernick resides in the black America where many black athletes are fabulously wealthy and black actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson led all movie stars last year with earnings of $64.5 million.

At least credit Kaepernick, playing under a contract in which $61 million is guaranteed, for not letting his conscience forget the other black America in which too many people of color live and die amid gangs, guns, poverty, bad schools and hopelessness.

Dwyane Wade can't forget the other America now even if he were inclined to: The Bulls guard's cousin was shot dead last week on the South Side.

Wade couldn't think of anything else to do about the city's cycle of violence, so he tweeted how senseless it is.

Kaepernick couldn't think of anything else to do about cop-citizen friction, so he sat down during the national anthem.

Both athletes are similarly distressed over complex problems that they are helpless to solve.

Kaepernick isn't an American original. Athletes have protested injustices or perceived injustices during my entire life.

Have they been patriots battling to make America all it should be or traitors tearing it down from the inside?

No consensus will ever be reached: Many Americans condemn them and many commend them.

All these decades of protests later, blacks still are compelled to protest conditions on their streets, including a strained relationship with the cops assigned to serve and protect them.

I can sympathize with Kaepernick's anger over the plight of minorities in urban America. Never having been even part black, however, it's impossible for me to feel what he feels.

Yet it seems to me that it would be better if Kaepernick and others painted the police with a narrower brush, just as it would be better if people painted blacks with a narrower brush.

So many dedicated cops work in the inner city and so many decent citizens live in those neighborhoods.

The two sides have to figure out a way to trust the other side so they can work together toward a solution.

America is great but it isn't perfect and people have an obligation to speak up or sit down to point out the flaws.

Colin Kaepernick's peaceful protest brought attention to what he believes is wrong in this country.

As uncomfortable as it might seem, that's the American Way, and Soldier Field was named for the people who died to preserve it.

mimrem@dailyherald.com