Michael Paul Williams
In June 1967, Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. armed forces, in protest of a Vietnam War he considered unjust. His stance cost him three years of his boxing prime.
The following year, U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos were drummed out of the Mexico City Olympics following their black-gloved protest of U.S. racial injustice, six months after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ali, Smith and Carlos were roundly vilified at the time, but history would vindicate them. Ali would die a national treasure who lighted the torch in the 1996 Summer Olympics. A statue of Smith and Carlos was erected at their alma mater, San José State University.
Someday, if we make it through this rough patch for American democracy, the women who represented our nation in this year’s World Cup will be given similar grace — not only for what they failed to do on the pitch, but especially for the slanders they endured over matters that had nothing to do with soccer. People will wonder why protesting the gender pay gap, standing up for LGBTQ rights, or speaking or kneeling in solidarity with social justice was ever such a contentious issue.
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In the meantime, I can’t recall a U.S. national team ever being condemned as unpatriotic and un-American.
A vocal segment of America prefers that its athletes shut up and dribble, punt, pass and kick. But this selective muzzle is unhealthy and unsustainable. If we don’t poke and probe our nation’s contradictions and enduring inequities, how else can we realize the true meaning of America?
Soccer, like every aspect of our society these days, has become a political football. In the aftermath of its exit from the World Cup, the United States women’s national soccer team is being kicked around. Criticism of the team’s performance and tactics is fair game, for sure. But the postmortem has been over the top in its viciousness, its unsupported accusations and its curious gleefulness.
“They donned the uniforms of the United States of America, but they refused to honor anything we stand for,” railed former Fox News talk show host Megyn Kelly. “And therefore, I’m thrilled they lost. Good. I’m glad you went down. You don’t support America, I don’t support you. And I know I’m not alone.”
Comments on social media confirm plenty of agreement with Kelly’s hot take, which had nothing to do with actual soccer and everything to do with the team’s patriotism — or perceived lack thereof.
Kelly didn’t bother explaining how the team members “don’t support America.” But the statement is a lie on its face. To critique our nation, and demand that it live up to its ideals, is the highest form of patriotism.
And besides, what exactly has Kelly done for her nation that equals the hard work put in by these athletes to represent our country in a global competition?
What sort of honor has Kelly conferred on our nation that compares to the World Cup championships and Olympic medals won by Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and other members of the USWNT squad?
The venom directed at these women borders on irrational. We are a nation born out of protest. But that’s where we are when the No. 1 song in America is Jason Aldean’s culture war anthem “Try That in a Small Town,” whose video conflates social justice movement protests and other First Amendment expression with the carjacking of an old woman’s car.
Of course, Donald Trump — who took an acetylene torch to the Constitution, rule of law and the peaceful transition of presidential power — felt compelled to weigh in on the soccer loss on his ironically named Truth Social website.
“The ‘shocking and totally unexpected’ loss by the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted. “Many of our players were openly hostile to America – No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!! MAGA.”
Wow. You’d think Rapinoe was holding a stash of state secrets, available to the highest-bidding foreign adversary. With all Trump stands accused of, folks are in a moral panic over some team members not singing the national anthem?
Trump, Kelly and this team’s other detractors have not explained how “wokeness” — rather than age, injury, inexperience, poor strategy or an increasingly level global playing field — hastened the U.S. team’s exit from the World Cup. After all, Rapinoe was already famously woke in 2019, when she was the outstanding player of the World Cup tournament.
I don’t recall hearing all this hate back then, which shows how contrived these attacks are. Which brings to mind this take from a young soccer-playing friend, who wrote, “I like to say if u don’t support them when they lose don’t support them when they win.”
The vitriol toward these women has little to nothing to do with soccer. When dissent is framed as hostility, the people doing the framing are trying to silence dissent.
America without dissent is like a net without a goaltender. We’re in danger of losing much more than a soccer match.
