Let’s take the U.S. national anthem protests, for example, which started in earnest when Colin Kaepernick, a political activist and football player for the San Francisco 49ers, kneeled during the national anthem at the start of games in protest of American police brutality and racial inequality. 

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Personally, I just don’t get the controversy here, because it seems so obvious to me: Refusing to rise for the national anthem at a football game to protest police brutality and racism is not disrespectful to our flag.  Actually, it’s just the opposite.  It celebrates the very essence of what our flag stands for.

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Listen up, America.  There is still systemic racism and severe racial inequality in the United States, and many Black Americans are understandably frustrated and fed-up.  Many feel they have nowhere to turn, and that no one is listening…and they are 100% correct.

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For decades, those in power have done precious little to change this reality.  Players who take a knee during football games (and those of us who support them) do not take this peaceful, nonviolent stand to be disrespectful to this country.  We do not take this peaceful, nonviolent stand to disrespect our military.  We do not take this peaceful, nonviolent stand to just annoy other people, or tick anyone off. 

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We take a stand because — thank God — we live in a country where we all have the right to stand up (no pun intended) for what we believe is right.  We take a stand because we live in a country where we all have as much right as anyone else to bring attention to injustices and make our displeasure known.

 

​If you want to do something else to make your displeasure known, knock yourself out!  You do you, and I’ll do me.  But no American in this country has any right to tell any other American how to lawfully express their fundamental right of free speech.

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And, not for nothing, but I would like to add that I’m pretty certain this controversy has nothing to do with people expressing their displeasure at all.  I’m pretty certain it’s about Black people expressing their displeasure about “Black” issues, and some White people don’t like it (please note I said some White people, certainly not all).

 

Why is this?

 

Well, my personal belief is that these certain White people are just ticked off because, deep down, they think they own the United States of America.  They think America is theirs and theirs alone — and Black people should have no say whatsoever about anything, because Black people have no claim to this country anyway. 

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This is a super harsh thing to say but, unfortunately, it’s true.  If you don’t believe me, look no further than the largely peaceful marches that occurred in American streets in the summer of 2020, once again in a national reckoning on police brutality and racial inequality.  I’ll be damned if these certain White people didn’t like that approach either.

 

​Before we leave this topic, I encourage you to read the shockingly inequitable statistics below.  Having that knowledge, taking a knee doesn’t seem so unreasonable after all, now does it?