Lunch with Sandy

On Oct. 16, 1968 in Mexico City, American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos scandalized a nation and the world by bowing their heads and raising gloved fists during the playing of the U.S. national anthem on the Olympic medal podium.
No doubt, as the 50th anniversary approaches, a great deal will be said and written about that momentous day.
But why wait? That moment is as relevant today as it was then — or will be 66 days from now.
I remember that day so well, how it shocked and angered me to see two American athletes disrespect their country in front of the world.
Slowly, though, it dawned on me: as a 20-year-old white kid from Albuquerque's Northeast Heights who had never experienced racial discrimination, I wasn’t SUPPOSED  to like it. All Smith and Carlos wanted from people like me was that we’d at least think about it.
Eventually, gradually,  I did. And I consider that day a seminal moment in the evolution of my thoughts and beliefs regarding race in our nation.
No fools, Smith and Carlos knew what awaited them after their protest in Mexico City: anger, hate, scorn, loss of employment opportunities, etc., etc. Nevertheless, they found the courage to do what they did. I’ve come to admire and respect them.
That said, in my enlightenment, was I full of admiration and respect on Aug. 26, 2016, when Colin Kaepernick first refused to stand for the national anthem?
No, I was not. I had the same, visceral reaction I had to Smith and Carlos all those years before. How dare he?
This time, at least, it didn’t take me — now a 70-year-old man from the Northeast Heights who still has never experienced racial discrimination — nearly as long to ponder and reconsider.
Like Smith and Carlos, Kaepernick anticipated the hate and scorn that would be visited upon him (though he probably didn’t think he would still be unemployed as an NFL quarterback almost two years later). He did what he did anyway.
Do I admire and respect Kap for what he did and why he did it? Yes, with the caveat that the socks he wore at a 49ers practice, depicting policemen as pigs, was wrong and a detriment to his cause.
Understand, now — I still don’t like what Kaepernick did. But, again, I wasn’t supposed to like it — only to pay attention. That goes for other NFL players who have knelt during the anthem, as well.
Now, as the NFL’s kneel-down controversy continues to simmer, we have Cowboys owner Jerry Johnson ordering his players to stand at attention for the national anthem. He said last year that any Cowboys player who didn’t do so would not play, but hasn’t repeated that this year, saying only that Dallas players WILL stand at attention for the anthem.
In taking this stand while the NFL and the players’ union are trying to hash out the matter, JJ has — unintentionally, I’m sure — painted a target on Dak Prescott’s back.
Here, the news media has aided and abetted.
Prescott, because he’s black and the Dallas Cowboys’ starting quarterback, has become the accidental spokesman for the team on the matter. He will stand for the anthem, he says, and there are other ways to protest racial discrimination.
Prescott  has been subjected to a nasty and unfair backlash. If the media asked Dak that question, every player on the Dallas roster, black and white, should have been asked it as well.
Final take, as a longtime Cowboys fan. I would not encourage a Dallas player to take a knee and defy the team’s owner. If I were a player, I certainly wouldn’t.
If  a Cowboy did so, I wouldn’t like it.
But, as with Smith and Carlos almost five decades ago, the point would be well taken.
Regarding race in our nation, not nearly enough progress has been made.