Tottenham talisman and England national team captain Harry Kane maintains that players should continue taking a knee to show support for Black Lives Matter.
The movement began with then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who made the gesture during the American national anthem as a statement against system racism and police brutality. At that time, he was essentially a lone wolf, and his silent, peaceful protest was considered highly controversial.
Four years later, we’ve come full circle. Now almost every player takes a knee, and those who don’t are the ones who stand out as controversial.
Some have said that with everyone doing it, we’ve lost the plot and diluted the message now. It’s quite common, when it comes to movements for social justice, to see this happen.
Eventually they can get co-opted, and it’s more about people trying to be trendy than trying to be woke.
Although a lot of so-called woke baes are just trying to be trendy. Anyway, Kane realizes the world is watching, and they’re focused on a problem that isn’t uniquely American, but worldwide.
“I hear people ask if we should still be doing it and we should,” Kane told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“What people don’t realise is sometimes we are watched by millions of people round the world. Of course, for the person who watches the Premier League every week, they see the same thing every week,”
“But I think if you look around the world you see children watching the game for the first time, seeing us all take a knee and asking their parents and asking why we take the knee.”
“It’s a great chance for people to explain why and get their point across.”
“Education is the biggest thing we can do.”
“Adults can teach generations what it means, and what it means to be together and help each other no matter what your race.”
Kane is absolutely right, this is for the kids. It is about setting an example for them. Racism and intolerance isn’t innate, it’s not there in the DNA at birth. It’s an abhorrent belief system that is acquired and learned.
Which also means it can be unlearned, but it’s on us, all of us, to continue using whatever platforms we have to try and bring as much awareness to this as possible.
Harry Kane is saying all the right things here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.