Football players have for years now kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality. It was a sadly prescient symbol, as a couple weeks ago, on Memorial Day, police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck until he died.

Mostly black athletes peacefully expressing their First Amendment rights were roundly criticized. Law enforcement was self-involved enough to interpret “Black Lives Matter" as a personal attack and corrupt enough to co-opt the phrase for their nonsense slogan “Blue Lives Matter." So, it wasn't surprising that conservatives declared “taking a knee" as inflammatory as flag burning, a spit in the face to veterans and America. Donald Trump called the kneeling players “sons of bitches" and demanded that (mostly white) team owners fire them, because he's never understood how the Constitution works.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick pioneered taking a knee and he paid the price for it. He was blackballed and hasn't played professionally since 2017. The Seattle Seahawks refused to sign him unless he committed to standing for the national anthem like a good little boy. Kaepernick's former teammate, Eric Reid, who was the first to join him in kneeling, was close to a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals but team owner Mike Brown ordered Reid not kneel. This had little to do with supposed “patriotism" or even backlash from fans, most of whom didn't care. It was about control. As Houston Texans owner Bob McNair grossly said, “We can't have the inmates running the prison." Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted an industry-wide mandate that players stand for the national anthem or face a fine. Because nothing says “the land of the free" more than involuntary expressions of patriotism. All that mattered is that these black players eventually get their minds right and accept the name “Toby."