Taking A Stand On Taking A Knee...

Taking A Knee:
Protesting by not standing for the Anthem goes back, at a minimum, to the late 1800’s. Issues such as conscription, economic injustice, the Vietnam War, nationalism and as today, racial inequality, have all been cause for this form of protest. It is not new. It is not solely owned by NFL players. 

It is not:
-Violent
-Disruptive
-Hate speech
-Inciting of illegal actions

 It is:
-Protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution
-Historically significant
-Chosen by the highly visible, on behalf of the “invisible”
-A pretty good example of what protest should be

 I understand the reaction in emotional terms, to this particular form of protest. In fact, I would be worried if nobody felt strongly enough about the country to have a reaction. As well, I fell very strongly about the fact that after all this time, there stands a host of very real problems that need to be addressed through protest and civic engagement. You could make a solid argument that the very formation of this country was an act of grand protest. We all talk of freedom, of sacrifice, of the hundreds of thousands of American citizens that have given their lives for our country. I ask you this, “What is more ‘our country’?”:
-The Flag
-The Anthem
-The Bill of Rights

They are all representative of the United States, sure. But the first two are more a representative notion of the last. (The Constitution, Bill of Rights, et al) If we want to suppress freedom selectively based on profession and/or annual earnings, then I would argue that we would be abandoning our founding fathers, founding documents and the very reasons an act-of-protest-turned-war-for-independence even happened. The sacrifices of so many, over the last 240+ years would be for not. On this issue, I see that there is a division between those that believe in peaceful protest and the right to do it, and those that want any person who doesn’t stand for the Anthem to lose their jobs. (At a minimum) And that, after all, highlights the need for protest better than anything else. Perhaps, we should be united in creating a country for which we all want to stand, to honor and to sing praise. 

JReed Says…Be Thoughtful