This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now."
There are few more hallowed spots in America today than the professional sports arena.
Billions are spent, and a galaxy of television channels is devoted to, showcasing athletes who run and throw, block and tackle, dribble and shoot. Now it has occurred to some of those players that the attention they draw every day could be put to a higher purpose.
It started a few weeks ago when Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers, wanted to make a statement about the sad state of race relations in this country, particularly the number of black men who were falling to police bullets.
He began by staying seated on the bench while everyone else was standing for the playing of the National Anthem. Then he and others began the more respectful but still attention-getting gesture of kneeling.
Going to one knee is something players often do when one of their number, or an opponent, has been injured. It's not defiance. It isn't disrespect. It is a stoic expression of concern.
Like other pro athletes in various sports, members of the Utah Jazz professional basketball team were placed in a tough spot. If they copied Kaepernick's gesture, they opened themselves to charges of being disrespectful to the anthem, the flag and the nation. If they did nothing, they risked sending the message that they see no problems in American society or, if they do, that they don't care.
So, like the good basketball players they are, the Jazzmen came up with a smooth move. The team, players and coaches alike, line up respectfully for the playing of "The Star Spangled Banner." They take the extra step of putting their arms around each other's shoulders.
Among the players of the NBA in general, and the Jazz in particular, the gesture means a lot. The men on the team are a variety of backgrounds, races and nationalities who put all that aside for a common purpose.
Pro sports have long been ahead of the rest of the society in accepting and promoting people based on merit. They may not realize Martin Luther King's dream of judging people on the content of their character, but teams are likely to evaluate people on the basis of strength, skill and work ethic rather than surface characteristics such as skin color.
Gestures such as those made by Utah's top pro team are, like King's speech at the Lincoln Memorial, not an attack on America, but a challenge to it to work harder to fulfill its own promise. Like a coach telling his players to stop resting on their reputations and pick up their game.
Because we've still got it. But we have to prove it. Every day.