Oh, Say, Can You Kneel: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Colin Kaepernick’s Racial Protest

Abstract

In 2016, Colin Kaepernick, a Black NFL quarterback, began sitting and kneeling during the Star-Spangled Banner to protest oppression against people of color in the United States. Instead of beginning a discussion on race, however, Kaepernick’s resistance sparked criticisms that he was unpatriotic. Using aversive racism, symbolic/modern racism, and colorblind racism as a theoretical framework, this critical discourse analysis of ten American newspapers found that patriotic ideals—the American flag, military, and National Anthem, in particular—were used as a way to avoid completely discussions on racism.

Keywords:

• Racism
• sports
• protest
• patriotism

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 While McConahay (1986, p. 96) coined the term symbolic racism, he later changed it to modern racism “in order to emphasize the contemporary, post-civil-rights-movement nature of the tenets constituting the new ideology or belief system.” Still, some researchers quoted in this paper continue to employ the original term.