As is the case in many public figure interviews, the issue of protests during the national anthem surfaced. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson volunteered that he would have knelt or raised a fist during the national anthem if he was in the NFL.
The question is, what is stopping him from protesting now? Surely he attends events where the anthem is played. Also, it also sounds like the protest in which he would have engaged would have only been related to POTUS’ comments. Now, in fairness to Johnson, given the drop-off of protests following the September 24, 2017 POTUS fueled wave, and pedestrian number of protests before that date, he surely is not alone.
Still, the protests are about the rights and privileges embodied in that national ritual not applying to African-Americans. It shouldn’t matter where the ritual takes place. The issue of systemic racism in America, including but not limited to police brutality, remains. There are a number of opportunities, especially for public figures who are routinely invited to sundry events, to demonstrate that they stand on the side of exposing the underbelly of America’s racism hypocrisy.
Let’s see what the Rock is really cooking.
