From “Know Your Place: Helping White, Southern Evangelicals Cope with the End of The(ir) World” by Justin R. Phillips
Protest has rarely been the path of the privileged as doing so creates a significant threat to one’s bottom line. Even deeper to this conflict is the notion that there are “right ways” of being an American, albeit a notion that has been a moving definition over the years. The bottom line is that being (or becoming) an American has been closely associated with assimilating into the majority-white culture, and Colin Kaepernick will not bend the knee for that cause. Football fans will tolerate scandals involving head trauma, domestic violence, as well as no serious addressment of performing enhancement drugs, yet an individual’s act of conscience in the face of police brutality is met with outrage.
For those not “American” enough for whites, their patriotism will always be suspect. This notion is a window into the white patriot’s soul: Our ancestors fought and died for this; yours did not. After all, whiteness welcomes even the draft-dodgers if you participate in her ceremonies “the right way.” The American way.