To kneel—or not to keel.
That is the question.
Hamlet, you were so 16th century. This is the new, updated question.
Let me start this blog post by saying that I stand, with my
hand over my heart, when I am anywhere that the National Anthem is played. But, wait, please hear me out. I don’t disagree with your right to do
something different--
The question is not as easy as the two alternatives
presented in the media and that our embarrassingly, socially-inept President
would have us to believe. Here is my
breakdown of the issue:
To kneel: On the
surface, it seems ludicrous. Colin Kaepernick (possibly the best self-aggrandizing person of our generation, besides our
President) is a young black man who is standing up for the disrespect of black
people in our society. Of course, he was
adopted by fabulously wealthy white parents and never knew a life other than
that wealth, and has become a football star (at least until lately), making
millions per year. I don’t make millions
per year, and I have been in school most
of my near-half-century on this Earth. I
am not jealous of that—I can’t do with a football what he can do, and this is a
capitalist society. People don’t sit on
the sidelines and cheer after paying high ticket prices while watching me save
a life. That’s just not how life works. I understood that coming into my profession.
I do understand that
people who are black are targeted more than a white person doing the same
thing, whatever that activity may be. I
have seen it to be so.
To stand: My
grandfathers were in the Army in WWII.
They gave much for their country.
One grandfather was in the Pacific theater. The other was on a tank in Germany.
The grandfather on the tank in Germany? He fell during battle inside his tank, and
fractured his kneecap into three triangles.
I know because it never healed back, and I saw the pieces on his knee as
a boy and young man. I remember his
story--What did he do in battle? He kept
upright. He could not bend that knee,
because staying upright was the only thing he could do to win the battle. And win the battle they did.
My father was in Vietnam in the Army. He has always been one of my heroes. Do you know what he does when he hears the
National Anthem play? Guess--
I personally know very well many members of the Army and the
Navy who are enlisted members and officers right now. Do you wonder why they are not posting about
this? (Not the veterans, but current military persons). They are not allowed to
be political. Yes, the same people who are
currently protecting your right to kneel, or stand, or wave the flag or burn
it, are not allowed to make one comment about a political situation. They are the military for all Americans, and
they fiercely, and at the peril of their lives, defend your right to protest
however you will.
I disagree with our President in his handling of this
situation. Peaceful kneelers should have
that freedom. That is the way they have
found to make their statement.
Those who would burn their NFL jerseys and boycott the NFL,
they should also have their freedom.
Our soldiers fight for a society where we are free to express ourselves in any non-violent way that we feel, and they support the capitalist society that
will soon show if the preponderance of support is for or against this move as it affects the NFL.
I go one step farther in explaining my stance:
The vast majority of our enlisted soldiers make well below
the poverty level (certainly not $15 per hour). Our officers make well below
what they could make in the same job in the civilian realm. When they are sent into battle, they work
100 or more hours a week, they sleep in tents with no air conditioning in the
most grueling of environments. Even in
their training, their cot may be keeping them only a few inches above the
ankle-deep mud where they must camp.
I know many, many soldiers and sailors in the military. Way more than 50% of them that I personally
know are in one or more of the many minorities that are not white straight males.
Without exception, they will all stand for the National
Anthem.
On the other hand, the people kneeling in the NFL all,
without exception, make millions of dollars a year. They go home to incredible mansions and sleep
well in the most comfortable of beds.
So, you ask, am I going to stand with the soldier with the
three-pieced kneecap, the soldier who has slogged his way through mud to his
cot, the soldier who sleeps in conditions that we would find unacceptable,
night after night, just because she or he wanted to defend our freedom?
--Or am I going to kneel with the privileged few?
As for me, I’m going to stand with the soldier who is
fighting with his or her very life for your privilege to kneel.
Peace,
Anthony
