Clarity of Purpose

This is not a feeble cry born simply out of disappointment; it is a passionate call to action from a place of fierce resistance to ideas and behaviors that have lasted for far too long. I’m not talking solely, or even primarily, about the failure of the U.S. men’s national team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. This blog is about far more than what is taking place on any given soccer field. Nevertheless, as I always do in my writing, I am attempting to link issues and stories from my favorite passion (based on my lived experiences) with the challenges and struggles of trying to create a more just society.

In many ways, athletes and games provide us with a microcosm of our world at large. In any given culture, the sports landscape is shaped by the characteristics of that society and in return sport provides incredible insight into that world from which it comes. Therefore, it is not possible to take anything that human beings experience of some social significance—like politics, socio-economics, and varying levels of oppression—out of sports. Simply put, the games that we play and who has access to them are deeply political. Who the most prominent athletes are, who and where the decision-making power comes from, and who we deem to be the principle consumers of that product all says a lot about who we are as a people.

When we experience struggle, pain, and loss, we have the opportunity to reflect and we have the choice to respond either with denial or with a concerted effort to improve. In a nutshell, this is the value of sport to society and to the education of young people specifically. Honestly, the life lessons are endless. We participate in sports—as players, coaches, or spectators—primarily to feel joy and to enhance our lives. Thus, it is from this standpoint that I have tried to find clarity of purpose behind what I do as a soccer coach. And it is precisely because I love sports so much that I believe they can provide the tools for us to enhance the lives of others. But deep systemic change only happens when we are courageous enough to consistently reflect on the morality, the attitudes, and the language that have combined to form the society and the world we find ourselves in today.

We are living in a world that seems to be in a perpetual cycle of violence and despair. In the United States of America, the self-proclaimed “leader of the free world”, we still insist on ignoring the voices that have always echoed throughout time amidst the backdrop of massive inequality and injustice in this nation. We refuse to learn lessons from our collective struggles that should have been clear generations ago but still persist to haunt us until this very hour. Based on current events, apparently these lessons cannot even be understood from the sports that we say we love so much. If the definition of insanity is constantly (and proudly) doing the same thing and expecting different results, then this country has been clinically insane for far too long when it comes to issues of social justice.

The history of the United States of America clearly shows that there is a very simple question that the ruling “white” people have always seen fit to either deny as a problem or to deflect responsibility onto their victims. Even today, this question apparently lies just beyond the comprehension of people who spew forth a plethora of ignorant and illogical arguments as to why (mostly black) professional athletes are wrong to “disrespect” the American flag and anthem. The simple question is this: In any given space, in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”, are freethinking and autonomous black bodies worthy of the same unequivocal respect, dignity, and reverence as the bodies of their countrymen?

If the answer to that seems obvious, then what does it say about this country that a significant portion of the population, led by those in power, puts more energy and fervor into shouting down the method of a peaceful and righteous protest than they do into recognizing and affirming the reasons behind the movement itself? If the protests during the anthem are about black lives being abused and taken by the state, and the response from some circles is overwhelmingly “how dare you protest the symbols of the state”, then it should be abundantly clear that something is wrong with our country. It should be clear that the people symbolically refusing to stand for the anthem are absolutely on the correct side of the issue.

The response to the whole thing highlights how racism dilutes people’s ability to think. It’s like having someone kneeling in front of you as they bleed from several massive wounds and your response is, “Why are you kneeling, stop disrespecting the flag! Don’t get any blood on it, find another way to protest!” I know, I know, the athletes who are taking a knee or sitting are not literally bleeding on the field as they do so. But why can’t people understand that they are thoughtfully using their platform to represent entire communities who are actually hemorrhaging? Why is it so hard to comprehend that the refusal to pay homage to the flag or the anthem is coming from a position of pain?

Not only is their method of protest non-violent, it is absolutely poignant and clearly touches a nerve. The fact that the public may view it differently says more about that viewing public (and more about the country) than it does about the players. Oh by the way, this is not unprecedented. Prominent black figures, including but certainly not limited to athletes, have always called into question whether the nation’s stated ideals actually apply to everyone. If one’s lived experience says otherwise, then the only logical conclusion that one can make is that the symbols and the pageantry of the country are hollow representations that were not meant to celebrate all of us. If that is the case, then why should we stand when the anthem plays?

The answers back are always the same and they are always lacking in merit and validity. “You should stand because people fought and died for that flag, you should respect the troops and respect the flag!” scream some. Others snarl, “If you don’t think the country is so great then go somewhere else!” Still others, especially some so-called liberal “white” people say, “I respect your right to protest but there are other ways to get your point across without being offensive. This is about unity, let’s just come together!”

I call bullshit on all of that and it’s not even difficult to refute any of those points. First of all, yes a lot of people have died for this country, including people of color who still find themselves treated as inferior citizens in their own land. The brainwashing that takes place in the armed forces about what the flag means is well documented and it doesn’t change the fact that not all soldiers are (or should be) accorded with the same respect. With all of their statues and memorials, the confederate soldiers who fought for slavery and white supremacy are treated with more respect than the black soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany in World War II but who returned home to poverty and Jim Crow laws.

Furthermore, what “freedoms” are American troops currently fighting for if they are not fighting for the right of all people to be safe from being gunned down in the street by officers of the state? The truth is that the anthem was written by a white supremacist and it celebrates the death of freethinking black bodies. The flag is just a piece of cloth; you can get one just about anywhere and in any form. But it’s the ideas behind the flag that are important and if those don’t apply to me then why should I recognize that symbol?

To those who say, “If you don’t like it here, then leave!” I would say this. That is one of the most ignorant, arrogant, and insecure things that could come out of your mouth. The idea that someone who is calling attention to a problem (in order to fix that issue) should stop complaining and just leave is incredibly narrow-minded. People think they are bathing themselves in patriotism when they say this but actually they are only proving their inability to reconcile with their own history and with the shortcomings of the nation. In workplaces everywhere, it’s precisely that attitude that pushes talented, innovative, and forward-thinking people out of clubs or corporations because the employer group prove themselves to be wholly resistant to self-reflection and change.

Let’s be very clear: before the Civil War it was southern “white” people who left the country because they didn’t like where they thought it was heading. When they didn’t get what they wanted, they split! So please understand, this is my country every bit as much as it is yours. I have my family’s blood in this soil. I am in this space to stay and truthfully, I know no other home. I’ve never left and I proudly reserve the right to critique this union as much as I want because I want it to be better.

Finally, to the “liberal” crowd who calls for unity and takes offense at seeing a kneeling peaceful protest, understand this: It is not up to people of color to make you feel comfortable. The idea that your feelings and sensibilities (about anything) should be put above and before the very real lived experience of other people is one of the founding pillars of the doctrine of white supremacy. Unity means nothing without clarity of purpose and justice. Being unified doesn’t mean that we come together to celebrate your supremacy; it means that we are aligned in recognizing that I too am worthy of respect. I too am America. I am in this space to stay! You can either deal with that by reflecting about why you take such offence to freethinking and autonomous black bodies, or you can be upset every time a marginalized person expresses their pain because the truth is that you just don’t want to hear it. You, you, you. You think it’s about you, and that’s the problem.

What does any of this have to do with soccer? What does it have to do with The Rising Point? I wrote earlier in this post that systemic change only happens when we are courageous enough to consistently reflect on the morality, the attitudes, and the language that have combined to form the society and the world we find ourselves in today. This rings true for the state of our soccer programs (and our public schools) just as it does for the state of our country as a whole.

Even if the men’s national team had gotten the results they needed to qualify for Russia, it wouldn’t change the fact that we have a long way to go before we are a true power in the world’s beautiful game. With youth soccer especially, we cannot continue business as usual and expect different results. As coaches and administrators in the game, in order for us to be effective we have to be willing and able to look ourselves squarely in the mirror and question our underlying assumptions, our principles, and our methods.

The Rising Point has clarity of purpose. We are passionate about using the beautiful game to develop quality people and to build community. That is the WHY; it all starts and returns there. That is why in this article, this particular writer has spent so much energy on a subject—protests of state violence against black bodies—which some people might think is wholly separate from youth soccer. It’s not. Everything is interrelated, especially when it comes to learning and the human condition. We are here to develop quality people and to build community. This is all about the story of America, our story. It’s about what we do and why, it’s about who is represented in our society and who is left out.

In this country, we’ve managed to turn the world’s game into a country-club suburban sport where only the kids whose parents can afford to drive a hundred miles every weekend can play at a high level. We have kids paying thousands of dollars a year to dribble around cones and pass in lines without opposition and yet we wonder why we don’t have more creative players who can dictate the tempo of a match. I constantly work with young soccer players who, before I can teach them anything else, have to learn that the game is not about how many times they personally get the ball. The game is about how our team operates as a collective unit to get the ball into the goal. I have to teach them to think beyond themselves, to be aware of others, and to act according to the best interests of the group, even if it means that they run in order to create space for someone else. I constantly challenge my players to be unselfish enough to make quality actions even (especially) if they know they won't get the ball. This is what is required of quality people and of high level athletes. Essentially, building an elite team requires getting individual members to totally buy into the concept of their shared community. Similarly, if we are to improve our society then we must understand and embrace our shared humanity and be willing to do the work required to bring forth real change. 

The courage that it takes for people to empathize and be allies with the oppressed in society is no different than the courage and vulnerability it takes for us to reshape how we nurture our children both in academics and in athletics. I’m an educator of competent, compassionate, and courageous people. Soccer is just the vehicle, the hook. When my students leave the field, my classroom, they are headed into a society and a world within which we all have to operate as best we can given our personal and collective history. Therefore, I’m not simply charged with preparing them to be responsible decision makers on the field; I’m tasked with engaging and empowering them to pursue excellence in all that they do. For our children and for a better world, we reach higher.