Brandon Baskin

Are the negative reactions to the so-called “national anthem protests” a case of epistemic injustice? If so, in what way are they an epistemic injustice and in what way can we remedy the problem? In this paper, I argue that there are actually two different epistemic injustices occurring simultaneously with regard to these protests. The first is a case of testimonial injustice in which Black people are not being granted appropriate credibility in their insistence that they are being oppressed either via state sanctioned violence against their bodies (police brutality), further (non-physical) systemic injustices of the criminal justice system, economic inequality, et cetera. I draw heavily from Miranda Fricker’s work in describing this phenomenon as such, however, I will explain that although this injustice manifests in interpersonal exchanges—its solution must necessarily be a systemic one. Therefore, I diverge from Fricker’s assertion that testimonial justice (at least this particular kind) can be remedied by way of individual changes. The second epistemic injustice is a type of epistemic blindness in which a large swath of the white population fails to recognize (either through will or ignorance) that their symbols do not necessarily have the same meanings for differently positioned individuals—Black people in particular. In other words, what American symbols such as the flag or national anthem actually “mean” may be quite different for certain groups of nonwhites owing to the trajectory of American history which has obscured, denied, or reneged on the rights of nonwhites in varying degrees throughout history. The inability to access or to be sensitive to this reality contributes to, I take it that both of these problems are significant in understanding how to both analyze and address this problem. I will examine both phenomena as combined and concurrent and lay out steps which I believe to be valid and immediately practicable plans of action.