by Hannibal Tabu

It's somethin' to see ...

Very few people actually have the fortitude to stand up for something these days. So the season-long statement of Manhattanville College senior Toni Smith, who faces away from the flag during the playing of the National Anthem, is inspiring.

On the other hand, the poor dear is probably screwing herself in the end. The stigma of this will last longer for her than it will for the administration she wants to call to task. Quick quiz: name two Arabic gentlemen who received tons of weapons, funds and logistical support from the Reagan Administration in order to fight the Red Menace and Iran. If you guessed "Saddam Hussein" and "Osama Bin Laden," you haven't been completely brainwashed by Ari Fleischer! Troops are on their way to your doorstep now, since most people are willing to buy even the most bold-faced lies!

As much as I actually agree with her whole shtick -- -- ending up on ESPN about it is gonna seriously affect her earning potential. Let's look at some common denominators:

Protesters: mostly don't have much money, and rarely use it on lobbyists or tanks or what have you.
Corporations: rarely say aloud what they want or what they're doing. Many fund private "security forces" and pay for whatever legislation (or in some cases "police actions") they want.

It seems pretty clear cut to me -- you can't win the game at all if you're playing by the wrong rules.

Or if, as Frederick Douglass argued, "power never concedes anything without a demand ... it never has and it never will," how much concession have global protests and backs turned on flags and amazingly low voter turnout and higher gas prices and the whole shebang actually accomplished?

To be honest, I admire the girl's courage in the face of an overwhelming amount of opposition. A Vietnam vet named Jerry Kiley (pictured above holding his beloved flag and stopping the clock for his personal aggrandizement) stormed the court at one of her games, wielded a flag, and shouted at her. She stood, hands on hips, and did nothing. Eventually they carted the crazy bastard off and let the game go on.

Ain't that America, for you and me?

Freedom of speech goes as far as you can take it, barring legal action and retributive violence. As much as Ms. Smith has a right to turn her back on the flag (me, I'd just go back to the locker room, but that's considerably less of a "statement"), the flag waving vet has the right to shout at her. But does he have the right to interrupt the game, to disrupt the enjoyment of hundreds, to postpone the work of two teams full of athletes? He probably threw some "I fought for you" blah blah at her, but truthfully, who asked him to? Does he think that his imperialistic service "fighting communism" makes his opinion more valid? This isn't a Heinlen novel.

Columnist Ron Daniels recently spoke of becoming "ungovernable" as a means to accomplishing change. To be so personally secure, so economically unassailable, that the whims of megacorporations and politicians still showing the puppetmaster's strings won't affect you. Divorcing yourself from the American system, making a move for personal change in your own life, in your own community. Just like those slave-humping, powdered-wig-wearing, hemp-smoking wild-eyed kids did back in the 1770s. That sort of person (or better yet, groups of people) can set their own agenda on any number of things.

And ain't that America? Home of the free, indeed.

As a student of the game ("I'm never no player, I'm more like a coach or an owner" -- Common, "The Bizness"), it's saddening to see people, in the interest of doing what they feel is right, mess up their chances for success down the line. I sincerely hope Ms. Smith won't find her creditors overly rapacious, her scholarship in jeopardy (as alumni wield a great deal of power over athletic programs), her fire for change stunted. Ask Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Ask USC football players told -- in no uncertain terms, both in the 70s, the 90s, and probably today -- that they are not to interact with the Black community on campus (and that's just what I know; imagine what happens at other schools). Even when there's a sea of wondering eyes like Toni Smith's, progress is always a last resort, always a pyrrhic victory as long as people keep fighting tanks with flower petals.

I ain't kiddin' America, you know you're wrong.

12 March 03

Editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Herald-Dispatch group, Hannibal Tabu has written for Vibe, The Source, Rap Pages, the LA Sentinel, and on MTV Online. He lives in South Central Los Angeles with his wife Yuri and a truly unholy legion of action figures. You can dig deep into his Operative Network here.

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