#TakeTheKnee
With the rare exception of my high school graduation, I haven't stood during the national anthem since probably middle school. Fetishizing our country, blindness to reality, and pretending to be patriotic are just not my cup of tea.
What are we even standing for anyway when we stand during the national anthem? We send our brothers off to die in someone else's war and then we don't take care of them when they come back physically and mentally broken. We don't take care of our own and yet we're supposed to be proud to be Americans? What sacrifice are we really honoring, when all we're doing is wasting the lives of our fellow human beings?
I personally don't stand because I'm not gonna honor a country that everyday perpetuates systemic racism and sexism, casts out the poor and helpless to the streets, and sends our own neighbors and siblings and parents off to die for someone's oil stocks.
And when I see our President of the United States call people like Colin Kaepernick, who feels the same damn way I do, a "son of a bitch" who ought to be taken off of the field, all I can ask is: what has he ever sacrificed? The dotty old racist got four draft deferments and a million dollar "loan" from Daddy. He doesn't know anything about sacrifice.
In fairness, when it comes to the military, neither do I. But I don't go around parading and pretending I'm such a gung-ho patriot that cares about the troops. And I'll tell you what, my family has fought in just about every war this country has fought. The French & Indian War, The American Revolution, The Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Hell, I got a cousin that leaves for boot camp this week. My family has given some, certainly not all, but some. What has Donald Trump's family given?
As for the people who are mad that people like Colin Kaepernick, the entire Pittsburgh Steelers team, and now even Stevie Wonder are all taking a knee; All I got to say is take a damn knee! Our country will never be perfect, but we aren't even on the path towards eliminating those evils that are perpetuated everyday in our country: racism, sexism, inequality, etc. We aren't even striving to fix those things. Instead, we'd rather have people that are angry just sit down, take their place, shut up, and move along. Keep calm and carry on, am I right?
But we cannot do that. I will certainly not do that. The next time I hear the national anthem, I'll be taking a knee. Taking a knee is a symbolic stand towards equality and fairness, liberty and justice, and all the things enshrined in our Constitution. A real patriot strives for the "more perfect union" the preamble of our Constitution talks about, instead of pretending everything is fine. Everything is not fine. We got a lot of problems that aren't being addressed and a lot of problems that desperately need our attention and care.
I won't stand during the national anthem until I feel our country is back to striving towards that "perfect union" our Constitution mentions.
What are we even standing for anyway when we stand during the national anthem? We send our brothers off to die in someone else's war and then we don't take care of them when they come back physically and mentally broken. We don't take care of our own and yet we're supposed to be proud to be Americans? What sacrifice are we really honoring, when all we're doing is wasting the lives of our fellow human beings?
I personally don't stand because I'm not gonna honor a country that everyday perpetuates systemic racism and sexism, casts out the poor and helpless to the streets, and sends our own neighbors and siblings and parents off to die for someone's oil stocks.
And when I see our President of the United States call people like Colin Kaepernick, who feels the same damn way I do, a "son of a bitch" who ought to be taken off of the field, all I can ask is: what has he ever sacrificed? The dotty old racist got four draft deferments and a million dollar "loan" from Daddy. He doesn't know anything about sacrifice.
In fairness, when it comes to the military, neither do I. But I don't go around parading and pretending I'm such a gung-ho patriot that cares about the troops. And I'll tell you what, my family has fought in just about every war this country has fought. The French & Indian War, The American Revolution, The Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Hell, I got a cousin that leaves for boot camp this week. My family has given some, certainly not all, but some. What has Donald Trump's family given?
As for the people who are mad that people like Colin Kaepernick, the entire Pittsburgh Steelers team, and now even Stevie Wonder are all taking a knee; All I got to say is take a damn knee! Our country will never be perfect, but we aren't even on the path towards eliminating those evils that are perpetuated everyday in our country: racism, sexism, inequality, etc. We aren't even striving to fix those things. Instead, we'd rather have people that are angry just sit down, take their place, shut up, and move along. Keep calm and carry on, am I right?
But we cannot do that. I will certainly not do that. The next time I hear the national anthem, I'll be taking a knee. Taking a knee is a symbolic stand towards equality and fairness, liberty and justice, and all the things enshrined in our Constitution. A real patriot strives for the "more perfect union" the preamble of our Constitution talks about, instead of pretending everything is fine. Everything is not fine. We got a lot of problems that aren't being addressed and a lot of problems that desperately need our attention and care.
I won't stand during the national anthem until I feel our country is back to striving towards that "perfect union" our Constitution mentions.
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