Colin Kaepernick deserves comparison to Rosa Parks, according to the president of the NAACP.
Cornell William Brooks said there is a line linking Parks’ refusal to stand in a Montgomery bus to give up her seat to a white person to Mr. Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“It’s a lofty name, but it’s not a stretch,’’ Mr. Brooks told USA Today about comparing Kaepernick to Parks. “We’ll let history be the judge, how consequential Kaepernick’s action is.’’
At the time of the 1955 refusal, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and turned the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. into a national figure, the laws in Alabama and throughout the South required Parks and other blacks to sit at the back of the bus. Southern racism also plausibly threatened Parks, King and others with lynching, and numerous civil-rights activists such as Medgar Evers were in fact slain.
The NFL and the 49ers have both said Kaepernick has no formal obligation to stand for the anthem. However, Kaepernick — whose jersey became the NFL’s top seller this week despite his not being the 49ers starter — was booed at last week’s game in San Diego.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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