How Kneeling Revealed Charlotte Latin’s Need for Civil Discourse

Charlotte Latin Students may disagree on Kaepernick's intent behind his protest; regardless, they all need a lesson in civil discourse.

November 13, 2017

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Photo Courtesy of Getty Images.

“Oh, say can you see,” the first words of the national anthem blare through the stadium, a proud banner stretches across a manicured field, and the sound of the seats collapsing together rings as people rise up. This occurs naturally, as if it is human nature to sing to our flag. Colin Kaepernick the single red jersey remains seated, alone defying the instincts of every person there. His action on August 26, 2016 sparked a chain of bold, civil disobedience during the “The Star Spangled Banner”.

As a consequence, this season NFL players across the nation took a knee during the national anthem, sparking a nationwide controversy. A silent protest meant to address the injustices facing African Americans in our country became interpreted as disrespecting our troops, flag, and nation itself. Kaepernick led with his kneeling as a way to protest what he views as police brutality towards the African American community.

During an interview on NFL.com, Kaepernick explained his actions.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder,” Kaepernick said.

The choice to kneel sparked an outcry of people calling his actions anti-military, bringing particular attention to veterans who have served and how his actions seemed to disrespect their sacrifices.
Similar arguments surrounding the NFL’s controversy entered conversations between Charlotte Latin School students. On September 28, news spread throughout the Latin student body of Providence Day School’s possible plan to kneel at a Charlotte Latin home game. The possibility of kneeling sparked conversation within the community.
Patriotism, respect for veterans and injustice towards African Americans became hot topics of the day. Many students claimed that by kneeling, students were taking an anti-military stance, disrespecting both veterans and current soldiers of the United States military. However, a number of students felt that kneeling was an act of protest against a recurring theme: injustice towards African Americans, and more specifically, police brutality.

“I think people misunderstand why people are kneeling. They think it’s against the military or against the country, but it’s really against police brutality and African American men and women being killed for nothing,“ Takiya Smith ‘18, a leader of the Black Student Alliance (BSA), said.

The same day the rumors about possible plans to kneel emerged, Spirit Council changed the previously scheduled “Black Out” theme to an “America” theme. Some groups banded together trying to outdo one another in the amount of red white and blue they can put together into an outfit. Topics of the lunch table shifted from the day’s test to debating the implications of the theme. Spirit Council did not respond to comment on the change, so whether it was a response to Providence Day’s kneeling remains unknown. However, this action caused more tension between students.

“I don’t think we should’ve changed the theme because it was clear they did it in response to Providence Day kneeling. It shows that our school isn’t very open to everything and they didn’t really think about how that made Providence Day feel or how students who do agree with kneeling feel,” Smith said.

Headmaster Arch McIntosh used the current controversy as an opportunity to remind students of Latin’s core values, leaving students to ponder how they should carry on through this time of potential political division within the school.

“I just felt that it was an opportunity to speak into that in a way that I hoped was balanced, thoughtful, and accurate just to remind us all of who we are, what we value, and realize that some people are just going to step out of those lines from time to time, “ Headmaster McIntosh said.

Moving forward, both Athletic Director David Gatoux and Headmaster McIntosh confirmed there are no plans for future policy to regulate students’ choice to kneel. Instead, both encouraged students to engage in appropriate civil discourse.

Sonja Taylor, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Charlotte Latin School, advocates for students to learn how to participate in respectful civil discourse.

“It’s important for students to understand that discourse is about constructive dialogue. It’s not about argument or about blatant disagreements. When you’re out in the world, you’re not going to be able to go around just yelling at people. You have to have some decorum about how you talk about things, even difficult conversations that lend themselves to people having different opinions,” said Taylor.

With an issue such as protests within the NFL, the topic of race becomes a prominent discussion. However, for some students that means awkward, harsh or uncomfortable conversations.

“Students should be able to talk about race, but race is such a sensitive topic that most people aren’t well prepared to talk about race,” said Taylor. “Even if you want to talk about this particular topic, if you’re not prepared for the emotional aspects of it, you may end up making the situation worse because you’re not ready.”

Students are recommended to prepare for these difficult conversations so that they remain engaged in calm, productive dialogues instead of insults thrown back and forth. Knowing how to talk about race, or other difficult topics, could help in making America’s political sphere less divisive in the future.

“I hope Charlotte Latin’s efforts towards civil discourse will get people to a point where they are able to engage in constructive conversations about race, because they are able to manage their emotions and express their opinions without it turning into a bigger controversy than what it started with,” said Taylor.

Discussing race leads to emotional conversations, where differing opinions go at war with one another, instead of coexisting. In a country where both the meaning of patriotism and race have been debated over for years, when an ongoing conversation about race fuses with a threat to patriotism, the topic furthers its complexity and divisiveness. This topic remains one of many that will cause a break in the unification of Charlotte Latin Students, but if Charlotte Latin wishes to hold its students together, they need encourage them to listen and appropriately speak to one another.

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