People are up in arms about the National Anthem, Proper Flag Etiquette, and Professional Football Players.
I'm sitting here hitting my head against the wall, AGAIN because us Americans sure do like a ruckus. We get upset but we don't seem to know how to get others to HEAR our complaint and respond accordingly. We are really good at making noise, but we aren't very good at being heard. Point in case, today's social media uproar. It appears that NOBODY seems to remember WHY football players took a knee during the anthem to begin with.
What I'm hearing right now is that the collective NFL is protesting our country, our flag, or president, our anthem....but that wasn't the original point being made. No surprise there is confusion, when the message isn't clear the voice may be heard, but it won't be understood.
This isn't a blog about my opinion on flag etiquette. It isn't about showing respect. It isn't even about the merits of any particular complaint. What it's about is HOW to protest in a way that MAKES SENSE.
I had to google what the original protest was about. FYI, it was concerning police brutality. Seems like I'm not the only one who forgot.
Let me be clear. I am all for a good protest. I've even organized a few. What I'm NOT for is people raising kane with no clear agenda, a fuzzy message to an inappropriate audience.
So, here is my personal "cheat sheet" on how to protest in a way that is effective.
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
Specifically, point by point, what is it you want to happen? "Ending police brutality" isn't clear enough. How about, a specific demand of increased training in police departments centering on the issue you feel officers need more education on. When specific, you can know when your demand has been met and when you can END the protest.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE
I get gathering media attention, but lets be real, blocking roads, impeding businesses ability to operate when those roads or businesses have nothing to do with what you are protesting is only going to make people mad and NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO YOU. The Lyme Community has a yearly protest at IDSA headquarters in Washington DC. The audience is the IDSA. That's where the protest is and that is appropriate. If you want your audience to include the population at large, making the general population mad at you isn't the way to get your message heard by them!
DOES YOUR PROTEST CONNECT TO YOUR MESSAGE?
Here is the bottom line. If I have to google what you are protesting, then maybe your form of protest isn't working. Kneeling during the national anthem does not connect clearly enough to ending police brutality. Yes, maybe these football players are taking advantage of their national audience, but getting attention isn't enough to create change. And you know what? It's kinda lazy. How much time and effort are these players putting into their cause with actually "boots on the ground?" How much money are they donating to help improve the police force? I don't know, I'm just asking the question. That leads me to my last point...
ARE YOU PUTTING ACTION TO YOUR WORDS?
It's simple, you had better be putting as much effort personally into a cause as you put time into making noise.
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