August 30th: Sidelined for the Silenced

We are officially at the point in the football season where we will hear far too much about second string quarterbacks and the gossip that go with them. What we don’t necessarily expect is that it will be their behavior on the sidelines that gets our attention, rather than their play on the field.

As if Colin Kaepernick didn’t have enough going on in his life, fighting for a roster spot on the San Francisco 49ers, he went and brought the limelight upon himself on Saturday night when, during a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, he refused to stand during the National Anthem. When asked about it after the game, he told reporters that he had no intention of standing in respect for a nation that refuses to show respect to its minority citizens.

What has followed has been a storm of criticism and analysis. Everyone from former teammates and coaches to presidential candidates have weighed in on whether or not Kaepernick was right to use his status as an NFL player to call attention to an issue he deemed pertinent.

When taking a step back from whether or not you agree with Colin Kaepernick, it is important to acknowledge the courage and humanitarian nature of what he is doing. This is a man who is using his influence to try to make changes to the world around him, calling for social justice and for equality. This is something that athletes don’t do nearly often enough. But sports have always served as the cutting edge for some of the world’s greatest social justice campaigns. Jackie Robinson not only broke baseball’s color barrier, but also sparked a national conversation about African Americans participating in American life. Muhammad Ali used his status as a boxer to protest the Vietnam War, a decision that went far beyond the ring. Now, athletes across the sports world are attempting to serve as leaders to fix the racial tensions in our world, and are attempting to use their fame as sports stars to make the world a better place. To look around and see yourself as a member of a much larger society, and to understand that you have the ability to do something to call attention to and hopefully make an impact on the greater community is a worthwhile and powerful step toward making a positive impact.

Kaepernick’s one mistake is that he was quite literally sitting on the sidelines of the discussion. It was his inaction that is causing a scene, his refusal to participate in something that is causing the nation to focus on the issues. He would have been better served going out and DOING something, going out and getting active in making the world a better place. As an NFL football player, he had the opportunity to use his actions to spark MORE action from a multitude of individuals. What happened instead was that his inaction caused people to talk about Colin Kaepernick, rather than the issue of the role of race relations in the United States.

The flag is a symbol, and a vital one to so many who have served this country in a multitude of ways. We can argue for weeks about whether or not you agree with his decision to sit during the National Anthem. But that is exactly his point. He wants us to be arguing, to be discussing, to be rallying together as an American population to decide where we need to go together. He is hoping that his choices will rile up Americans to the point of actually looking at the world around them and demanding that it get a little better. In many ways, it has nothing to do with whether or not Colin Kaepernick stands on the sidelines or sits, and it has everything to do with what you think about next time you hear that National Anthem. His point was to say that the song is supposed to embody freedom and justice, and he won’t stand until the country matches those values. In his eyes, he doesn’t believe it does.

The goal is not for all NFL players to sit during the national anthem. Quite the opposite, in fact. The goal is for all Americans to thoroughly discuss what is essentially important to our nation and be willing to do what we think is right to move us forward in a way that acknowledges our flaws and demands that we work hard to make this country great. We can only hope that America is listening to WHY Kaepernick did what he did, not simply THAT he did it in the first place.

April 15th: Freedom from Fear

Last night, the story of Passover was told around thousands of American tables. We talked about the enslavement of the Jews, the plagues that tormented the Egyptians, and the eventual Exodus into freedom.

The central theme of the Passover celebration is the intense focus on freedom. We, as Jews, were slaves, and we remember what it was like to live under the control of another. We also consider the meaning of slavery in a modern setting. While we have realized our freedom to practice our religion freely, there are others who are unable to taste the sweetness and the joy of freedom.

Even the Jewish community’s freedom is not complete. Many of our Passover meals had already begun to cook when a man walked into a Jewish Community Center in the Kansas City area and began what would become a deadly attack. His antisemitism was at the center of his hunt.

The Jewish community, both in Kansas City and across the country, banded together, attempting to console and help those who were immediately impacted by this man’s hatred. At the back of everyone’s mind, there was one emotion: fear.

Jews know the fear of antisemitism. We are raised to hide our Jewish star necklaces at the airport or in public places. We are taught to be suspicious of anyone who too bluntly asks us about our religious beliefs. Even those of us who have never actually had to stand up to hate targeted at our faith, we do know the fear that comes with being a chronically ostracized other.

This man’s violent outburst isn’t the only example of antisemitism that we find in today’s society. Every few weeks, another example makes the headlines, whether it be an act of vandalism or public shaming of Jewish community members.

We would like to believe that these are examples of ignorance by a tiny minority. We would like to think that no real people, none of our neighbors or friends still believe these terrible things about Jews. Yet, there is the fear that, if gone unchecked, your Jewish identity could eventually lead to conflict and, in terrible cases, violence.

Our freedom is, though, incomplete. We can see what it means to be free, we can tell ourselves our freedom is fulfilling and true, but our fear is what keeps us from our true liberation. We have been set free from Egypt, but the slavery to fear is still very much real.

We must not only look out for our own community. There is a limit to what can be done within the context of a homogeneous vacuum. The Jews in each community need to be willing to do education, to stand up against small levels of antisemitism, calling it what it is, and defend our right to exist free of fear.

At the conclusion of most services, we hear the invocation to look around and search out modern versions of slavery. We are meant to find them and do all that we can to help liberate those who still are bent over by bondage, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional. Sadly, it isn’t very difficult to find examples of slavery, especially those who are slaves to fear. There is plenty of work to be done to allow all humanity to feel the sweetness of freedom.

My thoughts and prayers go to all who lost their lives in the shooting at the Kansas City JCC. My thoughts also turn to those living in fear, slaves to the terror inflicted upon them by others. May we find freedom from each of our captors in the coming year, and, when we gather together a year from now, may the world be a place filled with the joy of freedom.

February 9th - America the Beautiful

American politics are screwed up, and they aren’t getting better. Republicans don’t want to talk to Democrats, and, frankly, Democrats aren’t that interested in talking to Republicans. The government can’t seem to agree on anything, and it doesn’t look like the American people are getting along any better than their politicians.

On the other side of the world, though, something big is happening. 230 men and women are going to compete in the Olympic Games. They are doing so not as individuals, but as representatives of the United States of America.

This year’s games, taking place in Sochi, Russia, carry with them a significance far beyond simply athletic prowess. The post-USSR Russian government is not in a good place, using the guise of democracy to overshadow an inherently corrupt system. This might have gone unnoticed, until some logistical pieces of the games started to fall apart. Running “water” came out looking more like iced tea than anything else, doors wouldn’t open, rooms weren’t well put together. Overall, the accommodations were a mess.

That would have been bad enough, but things didn’t get any better when some reporters started doing some digging on other Russian behaviors. Like, the notion of putting men in jail for being homosexual. All of a sudden, protests were going up, calling for all sorts of action, from sanctions to boycotts, all attempting to boldly protest the crimes that Russia has committed against its people.

This isn’t the first time the Olympics have served as a staging ground for the world’s conflicts. The 1936 games were held in Berlin, Germany, at a time when Germany was well on its way to starting the most atrocious act of hate in recent history. The 1980 Olympics held in Lake Placid, New York featured the bitter rivalry between the United States and USSR, culminating in the “Miracle on Ice” hockey championship. In both cases, political situations almost led to boycotts of the games, and in both cases the Americans competed. The result? An African American man winning a gold medal in Hitler’s home and an band of Americans showing the Russians that they’re dominance will be short-lived.

For the next two weeks, Americans will once again be on foreign soil, competing for medals and the rights to claim athletic superiority. There is, though, so much more at stake than awards and accolades. The United States is defending a way of living, a freedom, and an idea. We are defending the right to freedom, the right to be a light unto the nations.

Americans are not unified. We don’t agree on a great many things. We don’t agree on the way we should run our government, or the line between where my liberties end and the liberties of another begin. We can’t seem to agree on much of anything. With one major exception: we live in a country that allows us to fight for what we believe. Our rights are defended, and there is a civilized way of fighting for what we want.

There are 230 Americans in Sochi. I don’t know what they believe about homosexuality, healthcare, government spending, or guns (well, maybe with the exception of the biathlon competitors). I don’t really care. What they’re doing there, what they’re saying by being there, is that America, the country they represent, is alive and well, and we are ready to be a presence on the global stage.

There is a difference between being an American and the idea of America. America is something we all believe in. America is an idea. And we have to come together, most especially for the next few weeks, to support America as it represents us, each and every one of us, on the world’s stage.