2 Yrs On: Colin Kaepernick's Protest for Racial Inequality - Essay Sample

Introduction

The protest first took place on August 14, 2016, when Colin Kaepernick sat down during the national anthem. Two years later, Kaepernick kneeled down to protest against racial inequalities. The objective of the protest was to have NFL players address their problems, just like other professional players in different sports. Kaepernick's reason for the protest was his response to police shootings that took the lives of innocent black Americans who were unharmed. Kaepernick got support from other NFL players who joined him in protest and it soon became a regular thing during the season. There were even other cases of kneeling from athletes in other sports. The protest by Colin Kaepernick was never about the national anthem of the United States soldiers. The protests by the players made it possible for them to part of United States citizens who championed American inclusivity.

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Analysis: Harmful Media Practices

The protests by the NFL players elicited mixed reactions changing the initial intentions of the protest. False equation of incomparable acts was first to witness during media coverage of NFL players. The act of kneeling by the players as a protest against racial bias against black Americans drew a parallel meaning, which prompted debates. The president of the United States, Donald Trump used the player's protest for political mileage. The president changed the issue from its initial intention into a new level of debate. The title of media reports about the kneeling did not mention Colin Kaepernick; instead, the whole story turned to talk about Donald Trump's inflammatory remarks where he calls for firing of players who would kneel down during the national anthem. Examples of headlines that showed diversion of initial intentions of the protest are. "Trump: Wouldn't You Love To See NFL Owners Fire Protesting Players?" (Izadi, 2016) Ingraham: Hey, "Kneelers,' let's Get a Few things straight." (Ingraham, 2019) The above headlines are an example of how media failed to acknowledge the broader impact of the protest on systematic racism; instead, it used systems of powers to suggest that NFL players' protest was not worth the airtime. The mainstream media advanced Trump's commentary to discuss how the players disrespected the national flag and US soldiers instead of talking about the history of shootings of unarmed African-Americans.

Individualizing of racism play out during the media coverage of NFL protest. People started to question Colin Kaepernick's patriotism to the US. The media totally ignored the core message of the protest focusing their coverage on the celebrity status of the player. The idea of individualizing of racism is that Kaepernick's decision to protest was an individual problem that deserved punishment from NFL authorities. The CNN media reported Kaepernick as a controversial player, therefore further damaging his primary reasons for protest. Kaepernick's advert with Nike captioned "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." This advert further portrays Kaepernick as an individual who is having personal issues with racism without considering the history behind his protests. The reporting by media used currents events such as Charlottesville, VA protests by white supremacists.

Cultural racism is illustrated by the way media reported the NFL protests. There were posts that suggested that problems were only facing black communities. These reports suggested that Kaepernick was out of context by kneeling instead of putting efforts to help in solving problems facing his community. The Washington Post has an excerpt where Kalee is quoted saying, "How about he get out in the community and start the 'change' he's protesting about (Draper, Kevin, and Belson, 2018). The article supports cultural racism through the suggestion that black people are the only ones facing discrimination from the government and police. The focus by media to talk about Kaepernick's black background is used to portray black people as victims only and that their issues do not deserve recognition.

Best Practices

The mainstream media could have covered the NFL protest using the frame-narrative-message structure. Frame means that the media would have taken their deep understanding of the stories behind the protest by first carrying out brief short stories. The framing of short stories would first involve Colin Kaepernick relaying stories about his decisions to kneel during the national anthem. The mainstream media, for an instant, write a short story relaying events of police shootings of black people. The title of the framed short story could be written like this, the black lives matter and history of protests. Under the short story, snip on the Colin protest could be used as an example but not as a significant story. The story could be told from the perspective of continued cases of protests going on countrywide on shootings of unarmed people of color. The information re-laid by the media could be on the perspective of Keipernick's position since now the events of kneeling during the national anthem had already taken place. Using the information provided by Colin would help media reporters to write on the issue using a sober storyline that is informed without taking sides. The narrative of the story is not expected to mention the name of Colin Kaepernick; instead, it should use a made-up character. Using a frame narrative makes it easy for reporters to allow the audience a chance to engage in a sober discussion that without impairment of initial intentions of the story. The writer of the story will have to frame their story, ensuring that they cover all matters pertaining to racism as a social problem. The primary purpose of farming the story is to ensure that the story told expresses the voice of a character; in this case, is Colin protest against social injustices.

The frame-narrative structure is a better option for fair media coverage because the author gets a chance to weigh on the story and whether it helps in addressing the problem at hand. The reason for using this structure is to avoid using Colin Kaepernick as a narrator. The media used Colin Kaepernick as first-person around the news increasing the chances of message distortion. Using the frame-narrative-message structure helps in eliminating biasness since the audiences do not have a chance of taking sides. The outcome of this structure is that the public will be focused on the issue at hand which social injustices facing African-Americans.

The messaging part of media coverage should have utilized the value, problem, solution action model (VPSA). The media was first expected to connect with their audience to share with them their stand on racial biasness and police shootings of African-Americans. The next step would be to introduce the problem at hand, which in this case is different forms of protests used all over the country. It is at this point when the case of Colin Kaepernick is introduced to the public explaining the implications of the events. The audience of the information, which includes NFL fans, is then informed on how the problem could be resolved from within the club without raising a public uproar. The media should have taken efforts first to provide solutions rather than escalating debates surrounding the events. The public is then offered a chance to bring suggestions to the table on how police shootings could be solved using sports platform. The final section of the model is to pass the message to the public by informing the actions used by the NFL players in their aim of protests. The case of Colin should be used as an example of actions used by NFL players. Since the public is prepared for the actions, they will not escalate the debate as witnessed with Colin Kaepernick's decision to kneel as a way to protests.

Conclusion

It was essential to contact this consultation regarding the topic of media coverage, a case study of NFL players protests. The news coverage framed their news in different formats, with each media house having different intentions. The case of NFL players protest made it possible to shed light on how journalism is part of the problem when it comes to solving the problem of racism. The analysis of media coverage indicates the different racism discourse. The analysis also made it possible to explore different ways in which the media uses cultures and beliefs to frame their way of passing the message on racism as a social problem. The frame-narrative-message structure of passing information is the best alternative available to media for fair coverage of events. The analysis above demonstrates American ideologies and perspectives of media when addressing discrimination against minorities. In case of further inquiries on matters of this case study, I am available for further consultations.

References

Draper, Kevin, and Ken Belson. 2018. "Colin Kaepernick's Nike Campaign KeepsN.F.L. Anthem Kneeling in Spotlight." The New York Times, September 3.Retrieved April 3, 2019 (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/sports/kaepernicknike.html).

Ingraham, L. (2019). Ingraham: Hey 'Kneelers,' Let's Get a Few Things Straight. Retrieved 15 December 2019, from https://www.lifezette.com/2017/09/ingraham-hey-kneelers-lets-get-things-straight/

Izadi, Elahe. 2016. "Black Lives Matter and America's long history of resisting civilrights protesters." The Washington Post, April 19. Retrieved March 10, 2019(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/19/black-livesmatters-and-americas-long-history-of-resisting-civil-rightsprotesters/?utm_term=.eb7cee96b354)

Morrissey, E. (2019). Trump: Wouldn't you love to see NFL owners fire protesting players?. Retrieved 15 December 2019, from https://hotair.com/archives/ed-morrissey/2017/09/23/trump-wouldnt-love-see-nfl-owners-fire-protesting-players/