A year after U.S. citizens stormed the Capitol, America remains upside down
If a huge majority of Americans can’t denounce what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, the U.S. has big problems
By Ken Reed
Originally published by Troy Media
Imagine a country where football players kneeling on the sideline peacefully protesting inequalities in their country are labelled “unpatriotic,” “treasonous” and “sons of bitches” by the president of the country, while citizens who violently storm the nation’s Capitol and break into the House Chamber in an attempt to stop the certification of a presidential election are deemed “patriots,” “peaceful people,” “special” and “normal tourists” by the president and some members of Congress.
That isn’t the plot of some apocalyptic novel; it’s where the United States is as a country in January 2022.
In an interview on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures show, Donald Trump, the former president and commander-in-chief, called those who attacked the Capitol “peaceful people” and “patriots” in a truly shocking diatribe.
Rep. Paul Gosar has called the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol rioters “peaceful patriots.”
And Rep. Andrew Clyde said “If you didn’t know that TV footage was a video from Jan. 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”
How can any rational person who saw the videos of what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, label the perpetrators as peaceful, patriotic or tourists?
What we all saw – no matter our political persuasion – was a mob trying to violently and unlawfully halt a democratic process.
And what we saw in videos of Colin Kaepernick quietly and peacefully kneeling during the national anthem before football games was a young man who believed the country wasn’t living up to its ideals. Nobody got hurt.
Like Kaepernick or not, agree with his positions or not, the fact is that the American Constitution and democratic processes weren’t threatened by his actions. Yet, a lot of people remain more upset with Kaepernick than they are with the rioters who stormed the Capitol.
The United States is a nation that’s turned upside down.
Just to be clear, I’m not one who condoned the violent protests and looting that followed the police killing of George Floyd. Those involved in those violent and destructive acts should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Peaceful protests are an important part of American history, its values and its Bill of Rights. If thousands of Trump supporters had gathered in Washington, D.C., and peacefully protested in front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, I would’ve fully supported their right to do so.
But that’s clearly not what happened on Jan. 6, and the fact that some people – most disturbingly our former president and some members of Congress – continue to spin it as such is not only disappointing and sad but downright scary.
And what’s terrifying is that a large number of Americans have bought that spin, ignored what their eyes showed them on Jan. 6, and subscribed to various conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election.
If we can’t get to the point where a huge majority of Americans unequivocally denounce what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, we have big problems.
Much, much bigger problems than whether Kaepernick was wrong for kneeling during the American anthem at a football game.
— Ken Reed is sports policy director for League of Fans, a sports reform project. He is the author of The Sports Reformers, Ego vs. Soul in Sports, and How We Can Save Sports.

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman, and has a long involvement with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sport (now called the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition). We discuss the state of college athletics today, given the pressures of NIL, the transfer portal, sports gambling and huge media contracts. McMillen then provides great perspective on the poor state of physical fitness our young people are experiencing today.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
Follow on Facebook: @SportsForumPodcast
More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify; Google Podcasts; PocketCasts; & Anchor
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world. We discuss problems in youth sports today.
Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
Books