A note to Colin Kaepernick: For quite a while I was a member of the NAACP. I correspond regularly with Herman Bell, a black casualty of the post-World War II race riots. I see him as a political prisoner. Hillary Clinton scolded the government in Myanmar for holding a prominent politician prisoner. “Governments shouldn’t have political prisoners,” she said. No mention of America.

I know about Wounded Knee and states offering bounties for the scalps of Native Americans and a long list of horrors.

Despite all that, I am distressed by the misuse of the flag and failures to observe honored rituals. Some things are sacred. I don’t even buy foreign cars. I know that’s silly, but just the same.

Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Dalai Lama tried nonviolence and love thine enemy. America is Jefferson and not its rednecks. Think about it. A smile is more powerful than a frown.

All the best, and go Patriots.

Victor Listor

Athens