A Teachable Moment on Race

Mark Suster
Both Sides of the Table
4 min readSep 25, 2016

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Yesterday was the opening of the African American Museum in Washington DC, dedicated to the role that African Americans have played in building our country and our culture. It was signed into law 13 years ago by then president George W. Bush after being sponsored by the bipartisan support of Rep John Lewis (D) and Sen Sam Brownback (R).

Many of you saw the photo released above of first lady Michelle Obama embracing former president Bush. If pictures tell a thousand words, to me it expresses gratitude and mutual admiration, which is saying a lot for given the Democratic Obama presidency succeeded the Republican Bush presidency.

But yesterday’s teachable moment came for me in a different venue. I was driving my 13-year-old son at 7am to an out-of-town soccer tournament and he was telling me that his phone was constantly blowing up with notifications about how much sports writers seemed to hate Colin Kaepernick. He said, “I know he wants to protest but it seems wrong to kneel during the national anthem. Shouldn’t he protest in a different way?”

I dunno.

I told my son this. I am generally one who follows protocols and tries to pay respect for people who have served our country in the ways that are honored tradition.

On the other hand, we clearly have a problem in America with black people being shot and killed by the police with limited consequences for enforcement and Kaepernick’s actions are trying to bring attention to this. By kneeling during the national anthem he is bringing attention to this important topic — even if it makes others uncomfortable.

I told my son that I felt Kaepernick was brave to take this stand because when you do something where others can question your patriotism you are bound to be criticized and vilified and it takes brave people to speak up to injustice. I asked him, “If Kaepernick did something less controversial do you think it would be getting the press attention right now? Would we be having the conversation? Would other black athletes feel empowered to also speak out because one brave person went first?”

My son & I talked about what happened in Tulsa. We talked about what happened in Charlotte. I told my son that if Kaepernick hadn’t taken a stand we probably wouldn’t even be talking about this ourselves. And brave people speak up to injustice regardless of criticisms or consequences.

And the responses have been — of course — predictable. From Mike Ditka, Hall-of-Fame coach of the Chicago Bears, in typical bullying form:

“If they don’t like the country, if they don’t like our flag, get the hell out. That’s what I think”

I like this country, I respect our flag, and I don’t see all the atrocities going on in this country that people say are going on.”

Breaking: 76-year-old white football coach doesn’t see the atrocities going on in this country.

I hate this sort of bullying approach to dissent — “Love it or leave it” — as though our country wasn’t built on the democratic principles of freedom of speech, the right to peacefully protest and the right to dissent. It is high school bullying tactics. It is Donald Trump like bullying tactics. You can disagree with Kaepernick’s views on the state of black affairs in America (as it seems Rudy Guiliani does, he and Trump have called for more “stop and frisk” tactics). You can also disagree with how Kaepernick is choosing to protest. But celebrate that we live in a country where he can challenge the system through public protest.

Here’s the thing:

  • 68% of NFL players are black
  • 74% of all NBA players are black

These are entertainment leagues that play a huge role in the American Psyche and represent a huge amount of the time and conversations we all have as Americans: White, Black, Latino, Asian and otherwise.

If we want to have a real conversation about race in America kicking it off through sports is perhaps the best wedge. What if an overwhelming majority of players were united in their protests of how black communities are being treated? We then couldn’t sweep it under the rug. Every child in America would ask their parents, “What’s going on?” and that wouldn’t be such a terrible thing.

So I hope there are more Colin Kaepernick’s, not fewer. I hope more African American sports colleagues will join forces in forcing us as a society to be honest about the disparities that exist in our penal system, our policing system, our education system, our legal system and so forth.

And even if it’s not how you would choose to protest if you felt like injustice was being done to your people, I ask you to consider what it takes to get a national dialogue going after so much pain and anger in the past has not.

And remember that yesterday’s villains are often tomorrow’s heroes when measured in the fullness of time.

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2x entrepreneur. Sold both companies (last to salesforce.com). Turned VC looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs — I’m on Twitter at @msuster