Working People Should Support Megan Rapinoe

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

I am not in a position to write myself about this issue and the attacks on Megan Rapinoe from the US Predator in Chief and serial rapist Donald Trump.  I can at least share this short video describing her thoughts about this and her brave stand.  She articulates her thoughts very well in these quotes. Of course, the government of the US and any other country does not stand for values that protect any working class person; the working class is not the class that governs. As Ms Rapinoe explains herself, she has not experienced the racism and police violence that people, of color face in a racist society. But being gay she can identify with it and sympathize with it.

All workers are oppressed, are exploited in class society. What matters in capitalist society is profit and capital accumulation, not the welfare of those whose labor power is the source of the capitalists accumulated wealth. It is always important to remind ourselves that wealth in capitalist society comes from the unpaid labor of the working class. It is in this view we should be grounded.

To not sympathize and stand in solidarity with those facing racial, religious, xenophobic, sexual or any other form of discrimination is in opposition to working class values. It weakens us in our struggle to be free of capital. Like Megan Rapinoe, I have not experienced the same experiences as others, as people of color, women, gays, and so on. I am oppressed as a worker as all workers are, but there are others that have additional crosses to bare and it is in my interests to stand with them. To quote the great American socialist Eugene Debs:

 "While there is a lower class I am in it, while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison I am  not free."

I do not believe so many white athletes and workers have stood aside, have remained silent because they don't care or because they are racists, though there are those that are. We cannot exist in a racist or sexist society and not be affected by this ideology.  It shows the level of control the rich, the capitalist class has over millions of people, how we live in fear that if we open our mouths, we lose important things, rent, housing, a job etc. This is not freedom. That Megan Rapinoe is the first white athlete to take a kneel in support of Colin Kaepernick confirms this.  We should be proud of her.