Bend A Knee

While I doubt that many of you don’t have an opinion on the continuing kneeling, sitting and not attending during the National Anthem during NFL games, you can be sure that I have one. Wow, there are a lot of negatives in that sentence. And now you’ll just have to read about it. Admit it, you have to read on don’t you?

I am one person who really respects our flag and believe that standing is proper way to spend the few minutes of time during which the National Anthem is playing. I am also one person who really respects the rights of others to protest and to state their beliefs any way they want. If kneeling before a football game is the way they want to get their point across, so be it. I have heard and read that the players are just employees and they do not have the right to free speech if it affects the company they work for. In this case this is absolutely ridiculous. NFL players may be employees of their teams but they are also public personas that the teams cannot due with out. Players who wish to protest racial injustice in American life should be applauded for their behavior not ridiculed. 

Our esteemed leader (?) has tweeted and ranted about how we should boycott and/or the players should be fired. This is ludicrous. Our boycott would not have any effect on the players. They would still get paid, it’s the teams that would suffer. If you fire the players then, again, the teams suffer and this time so do the fans. No one wins. President Trump has proven once again that he and his followers do not support the rights of many Americans. And neither do they support the rights of any marginalized person in the U.S. The administration seems to be on the side of racism and bias!

I saw a quote today from Peter Malnati, a professional golfer. “I stand for freedom. I stand for ‘justice for all’. I stand for equality, for empathy and for compassion. I kneel to hubris and greed. Therefore, I take a knee for the flag that represents this administration. Not because I don’t love this country, but because I do.”

I wish I could have said it so eloquently (and you probably wish I could have too!).