I originally posted the following information and commentary upon my Facebook wall…
San Francisco 49ers Quarterback, Colin Kaepernick
By Sitting Down Kaepernick Challenges Americans to Reflect on What They Really Stand For:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/08/30/sitting-down-kaepernick-challenges-americans-reflect-what-they-really-stand
(Peter Bloom) The San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick shocked much of America last week by refusing to stand for the national anthem. In his own words,
“Ultimately it’s to bring awareness and make people realize what’s really going on in this country. There are a lot of things that are going on that are unjust, people aren’t being held accountable for, and that’s something that needs to change. That’s something that — this country stands for freedom, liberty, justice for all. And it’s not happening for all right now.”
His actions have resonated far beyond the sports page. They have spurred passionate reactions from supporters and detractors alike. No less than Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proclaimed “Maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try. It won’t happen.”
My Commentary: I’ve been sitting during the “pledge of allegiance” and “national anthem” since I was nine or ten years old. I remember asking my mother whether I *had* to engage in these particular rituals while at school, or if I could just sit, silently, instead.
Even at that age, I knew better than to give my loyalty or respect to a nation built on the blood and bones of genocide and slavery…
(All original portions of this work, by Rayn Kleipe, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, while all redistributed links, images, sounds, videos, and writings are protected under 17 U.S.C. § 107: Fair Use, or under Public Domain)
