Colin Kaepernick Doesn't Have a Clue About What 'Sacrificing Everything' Really Means Article Analysis

Sacrifice is when someone does something for the greater good despite the backlash they may receive for that action, regardless of how insignificant or unnecessary some may view it. In Britt McHenry’s article “Colin Kaepernick doesn’t have a clue about what ‘sacrificing everything’ really means” she goes on to claim that Kaepernick does not know what sacrifice is since he is not laying down his life and that his protest was disrespectful to military and police officers. On the other hand in John Schwarz’s article “Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery” he highlights the background of the national anthem and how it celebrates slavery and how police have historically been brutalizing Black Americans in the name of justice. Despite the different stances that Schwarz and McHenry take, they both use the same rhetorical strategies such as logos, ethos, and pathos throughout their articles to take a stance with or against Kaepernick.

Schwarz employs logos when he highlights the national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” glorifies the slaughter of slaves fought against the US for the British as a way to gain their freedom. They left slaves no other option for freedom, for not only themselves but for their families, which in turn left many Americans with growing resentment towards slaves. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written about the Battle at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 where the US won against the British stated in the song “No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave” (5). Additionally, Schwarz brings up an important question: why would Black Americans stand for the national anthem when it memorializes the death of Black slaves? We do not even live in a society that will acknowledge the brutality that Black Americans still go through today. Despite this song’s origin, it is still the national anthem that some believe should be respected and stand for. Thousands of innocent lives were slaughtered for an unnecessary war the US lost and a chance of freedom for themselves and their families. 

McHenry believes, “The Star-Spangled Banner” should still be respected. She shows her “patriotism” by using logos when she talks about the US soldiers who have died in Afghanistan, stating that they are heroes who knew what real sacrifice was and that they did it for their country whereas all Kaepernick did was put his entire career on the line (7). She claims that law enforcement and the military people sacrifice everything every day without acknowledging the fact that they were able to choose their profession. Black Americans like Kaepernick do not have a choice in being Black. American society interprets peacefully protesting as unpatriotic, but storming the capital is being a true patriot. McHenry also refuses to acknowledge that among the soldiers that died in Afghanistan were Black Americans. These Black soldiers could very well have supported Kaepernick’s efforts to highlight the US’ disturbing irony of reprimanding Black Americans that do not want to stand for an anthem. A song that celebrates slaves being slaughtered in a meaningless war in which the US was the villain.  

The US was the villain in the War of 1812 because during the war they slaughtered escaped slaves for land that was not theirs they also demanded to have the surviving ones back. Schwarz mentions the end of the war while utilizing ethos to explain how the US wanted back the surviving escaped slaves as a part of the peace treaty with Britain but Britain refused. Schwarz uses this to further solidify the stance that the US was by no means willing to be merciful or forgiving with the slaves that escaped and even “demanded the return of American “property,” (15). The US dehumanized Black people in that time and still does today, to the point where today their stance on something is not real unless they lay their life down for it.

Someone who also happens to believe that is McHenry explains this when she employs ethos to claim that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew and made the sacrifice for civil rights with his life because he knew the true meaning of sacrifice, unlike Kaepernick (18). Although McHenry is correct Colin Kaepernick did not sacrifice his life for his cause she refuses to see the similarity in their actions and what they are fighting for. She refuses to see that like King, Kaepernick was peacefully protesting. Additionally, like King, Kaepernick was fighting for a less racist US, and that Kaepernick had just wanted to start with the national anthem.   

Schwarz uses pathos right at the end of his article as a reminder of the history the police have brutalizing Black Americans because they could get away with it. He starts off by stating that the infamous Francis Scott Key that wrote the Star-spangled Banner had become a district attorney where cops were known to steal things from Black Americans. Schwarz also describes an instance where the cops attacked a Black woman who luckily escaped but then later fell off a bridge and drowned. Those faced no repercussions and when a newspaper criticized Key for having “neither mercy nor justice for colored people in this district” (18) he was mad at the newspaper for trying “to injure, oppress, aggrieve & vilify the good name, fame, credit & reputation of the Magistrates & constables of Washington County” (19). Schwarz tactfully brings this situation up to show how historically time and time again under the name of protecting the US cops unjustly brutalize and murder Black Americans without consequence.

McHenry also utilizes pathos right at the end of her article when she talks about the  military soldiers that have been injured or died for this country because they wanted to sacrifice themselves for the US. She even goes so far as to say that “Many of those still alive are unable to kneel in disrespect on a football field like Kaepernick – and wouldn’t want to even if they could” (18). That statement could not be further than the truth because there are many Black American soldiers who would understand that Kaepernick does not have to lose his life to police brutality for him to be truly sacrificing for social justice. Kaepernick should not be told that for his protest to mean something he would have to die. You can sacrifice more than just your life for a cause which is exactly what Kaepernick has done.

I believe that Kaepernick was right to kneel in protest for the national anthem and to protest against police brutality. I believe this because as US citizens we have a right to protest and a responsibility to make this country a better place no matter how much opposition we may face. Which I believe is exactly what Kaepernick was doing and not only was he protesting for what is right he was doing it peacefully, which is something to respect since many people when faced with obstacles do not act so calmly. 

 In my opinion, Schwarz made a better argument and applied the rhetorical strategies much more skillfully than McHenry. I came to this conclusion because Schwarz actually analyzed the situation and thought critically about it and it is shown through how he looked at the whole of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key’s life later on, with researching the War of 1812, and looking at the brutality Black Americans have endured from cops for so long. McHenry was lacking in information and mainly took a stance on the issue by just looking at the face value of it and essentially discarding it as something with no meaning other than to be disrespectful. Schwarz also better satisfies his readers with his clear knowledge of the history of the national anthem that far exceeds McHenry’s. Throughout Snwarz’s article, you can see that he has researched every aspect of the situation where McHenry mainly focuses on Kaepernick rather than the history and background knowledge needed to understand why Kaepernick was protesting. Overall, McHenry needed to have done more research and look into why Kaepernick was protesting in the first place and look at everything he was protesting against since she missed the real purpose of his protest. If she did, she would realize that Kaepernick is not unpatriotic instead we have an unpatriotic anthem.