Here’s the thing about protesting and taking a knee on the flag. For those of you who don’t understand, let me clarify it for you. It’s not about the act of protesting or believing in something and pursuing it; it’s the way you’re doing it. What does the American flag have to do with your perceived oppression? What does the national anthem have to do with the issues people are bringing up? The national anthem is full of hope and unity in a country that has made poor people rich and given everyone opportunities. The flag represents the sacrifice, hard work, dedication, blood, sweat, and tears of our ancestors.
What makes me the most upset are the people who take a knee and want to attribute all of the negativity to the flag and the anthem but don’t want to acknowledge anything positive. If you feel the American flag represents slavery then you also need to give credit to that same flag that has given you the opportunity to go from corn fields picking cotton to being the President of the United States of America or from being segregated and not being able to vote to making millions of dollars playing sports.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had bipartisan support from people both inside and outside of the civil rights movement because he behaved with respect and integrity and had a mission with tangible, achievable goals. These clowns today are protesting because it’s become trendy. The issues they’re talking about have nothing to do with the flag. You can address those issues in another way. If you really care about Black lives you don’t need to take a knee; you need to be active in the Black community. If you care about oppression and laws then you need to go out and vote. Do something about it instead of protesting, crying like a baby, and pissing people off!
What’s happened since Colin Kaepernick first took a knee? Has unemployment changed in the Black community? Has Black on Black crime changed? Have the police stopped shooting Black people? Has the abortion rate dropped? Has recidivism changed? Did dropout rates change? Are there more entrepreneurs, opportunities, and jobs? Nothing has changed and nothing will change unless you actually do something about it.
As an African American man in this country the flag means a lot to me. Even if I don’t like the president, I will still honor the flag because of all the people who fought so I could be free. Just because you play in the NFL doesn’t make you an expert about anything in life; in fact, you have no idea what you’re talking about because all you do is play a game and go home. The people who died for that flag weren’t playing a game.
Remember who pays your salary; you’re not making money just because you’re a good athlete but because the fans pay money to sit in those seats and watch you play. You could be irrelevant tomorrow. Don’t disrespect America just to play a sport.