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In America we are supposed to have the honor and right to protest or pray, in order to have our voice to be heard. When we are unsatisfied with occurrences in our country or when we feel the need to speak up and/or use our voice because we feel or see a need to speak out in a peaceful state to illustrate injustice or bring attention to the acts of injustice you, as an American have perceived. What we are speaking for is the element of change to occur. Praying and protesting are the same act, a plea for change.
“Standing (or kneeling) for freedom and justice does not oppose America, it upholds America.” Stated by Michael Bailey from an article by Mike Jones of Change.Org.
It would seem to take a position of prayer or being on one’s knee would be a sacred positioning and it would be accepted as it’s respectful and traditional positioning. You would think the act would be honored as a powerful plea for the sacredness of human life. To be sacred, to my thinking, would mean honoring freedom, justice and the possibilities of the “pursuit of happiness”… the possibilities of the attainment of the American Dream.
But this act of symbolic, sacred prayer was viewed by many as an act of aggression and disrespect. To others, it was a seizing of a very public moment to ask the country to pay attention and see the injustice that is occurring in America. This symbolic sacred prayer is a message to the American people from sir with love. I believe the intent is to inform and draw attention to the ignored obvious elephant in the room. It is not dishonoring the American Flag but trying to draw attention to how we are not honoring the democratic truths of America.
I believe the intent of the flag to honor life and liberty is very important.
The lives, the safety of passage, and the right to share an American voice in public dialogue is an honor bestowed on the average American citizen by the constitution. These rights were originally written for white male citizens and did not include women or slaves. Those rights would come later with the grace of time.
Are we so self-absorbed in watching a sport like football to not realize some of these very men you are watching playing sports could be victims, violated and/or killed because of the color of their skin on their way home from being a form of entertainment for America?
I believe in the intent of the flag to honor life and liberty.
The honoring with the grace of time became more inclusive, after protests by women and people of color. These protests open the doors and began the conversation to create laws to support the underrepresented segments of our society. I believe the national anthem became a vehicle used by the players to illustrate issues and engage America in a needed conversation. Our America are not sharing equal rights and equal protection granted within our American constitution because there is more work to be done.
Are we too privileged to want to be responsible for another fellow American life outside our individual family circle of cultural, financial, and political comfort?
I believe the intent of the flag to honor life and liberty is very important.
This is not a protest of the flag or the anthem, but a protest of bringing attention to the lack of the country’s commitment to giving equal protection and equal opportunity to all citizens of this country. This is a protest about racism and it doesn’t matter if these players have all become rich by playing a sport. Because these players have become rich in spite of racism and they understand the struggle at hand, the players want to use their opportunity to express their voices while they have the American audience’s attention. They understand the backdoor policy black people in America have become used to, of being separate and not equal.
Protest is a patriotic American tradition. Stifling dissent is not. I believe the players are using the anthem to illustrate their dissatisfaction with the inequality existing within our society by using an act of peaceful protest. What is wanted is equal protection for all citizens, which under the law is theoretically given.
As a father of a black child in America, I have concerns for her physical and emotional safety. I have concerns of her not being able to rise above her daily trauma of being black in America. I know personally how I as a black man I have been traumatized by institutional slavery and personal rejection caused by the color of my skin. I have been threatened by racists and had my life at risk, been told “we know how to take care of people like you.” All of this occurred because I dared to demand equal rights.
I am a second generation Californian and this occurred in California. I was told when I was young to hold my tongue and not to speak because I could cause trouble when we were visiting in the south. This is modern America and there’s so much work to be done in the name of justice and equality. It is a known fact among people of color, “you might have the cash, but you can’t cash in your face.” This meaning, you are not safe or guaranteed equality, even with education and money.
So yes, the players have an audience and a chance to have their voices heard and they spoke in the hope of change. They took the American right to protest, the right this country was founded on, to speak their minds and hearts in a respectful, prayerful way.
I believe that is the American way.
If we were protesting for the rights of veterans to have health care and education, after serving our country, would there be the same uproar? Would we threaten the veterans with being fired or call them un-American?
Are we afraid to address the silent sin of America, racism?
This is a calling for a conversation of being humane, a standing in the light of justice and righteousness. We would hope the citizenry of America would provide freedom for the rich, the poor, women, gays, transgender and lesbians, veterans, and people of color.
I want to take a knee to stand in prayer for equality.
I stand in the grace of love and compassion and the acts of equality.
I kneel in the healing of America and the unfinished business of being the written truths of our American constitution.
May the grace of healing human slavery be realized. Is there any grace in the house of America, in the living room we are all sitting in and should we stand or kneel?
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