Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Kaepernik "taking a knee"

The face of Emmit Till. A 14 year old boy lynched, beaten, and thrown in a river by two white men who abducted him from his Aunt's house in the middle of the night. The two white men were acquitted of all charges by an all white jury in a very speedy trial. The men later confessed/bragged (to friends) that they committed the murder. That was 1954. There was no justice then.....and there is little justice now.

What if, back in 2016, there were black (and white) athletes other than Colin Kaepernick who refused to stand for the national anthem. (Kaepernick was the only one left kneeling after the threats and backlash by the President and the NFL. What if the majority of athletes had "taken a knee" back in 2016–Lebron James, and Cam Newton, and Steph Curry, and Tom Brady, even. Imagine if that solidarity and courage would have prevented the death of George Floyd and many others since 2016. Colin Kaepernick was trying to save George Floyd's life and NO ONE cared. It is enough to make you have to catch your breath. The guy was trying to make it a peaceful act of protest...to instigate peaceful change. He couldn’t even rely on someone of his own race, from the oppressed group he was trying to represent. White people in power said “scatter” and they all ran...just not Colin. No one cared....everyone was concerned about their own interests...that's what happens when people just go about their business "I've got mine" style. How shameful that is! It may not be much but my daughter has been protesting in the streets for 5 straight days. She has been walking and protesting for up to 7 hours a day.

I think it is very easy to forget history and to lose perspective…

The Revolutionary War between England and the colonies (us) didn’t happen for no reason. We did it to form a "more perfect union". We didn't care about tradition or decorum or even the whims of a bloated King. We were only concerned with our freedoms and our rights. It didn’t happen because everyone was satisfied…It happened because people living under British rule in the colonies felt their rights were being violated. They protested and the British Monarchy ignored them…many people living in the colonies wanted to remain under British rule and not to be part of the revolution. They were for status quo. They thought Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, etc..were agitators and traitors. The "Founding Fathers" would have called themselves "anti-fascists" if the term existed back then and the monarchy would (and did) demonize them.

Imagine if there was a sporting event in the colonies just prior to the American Revolution and British military were in attendance and a band started to play the perfunctory and obligatory British national anthem and ....Washington and Jefferson, in attendance, refused to stand and instead, "took a knee" in silent protest. They would have been targeted by King George as traitors. Maybe even called “sons of bitches” the way Trump characterizes those who "took a knee" prior to NFL football games.

The audacity of expecting Rosa Parks to stand for the National Anthem when she is arrested for not giving up her seat for a white person. The flag, to her, has no meaning. It is just colored cloth.

George Washington wouldn’t have been daunted when King George told him that he was defacing the flag of England "and all the Dukes and Windsors and redcoats who came before him." In the same way those who “take a knee” are saying that the ideals, and promises, of the Constitution are what is important…not a flag or an anthem. I would never die for a hollow piece of cloth but I would die for principles...for justice...for the rights of my fellow Americans, black, brown, white, gay, etc.. The Nazis had a flag, too, and the Germans were told that it stood for nationalism and Germany. Not standing for that could cost you your life in Hitler's Germany. Here in America it only cost you your job. Meanwhile, the smell of burning Jewish bodies was filling up the public square.

Holding up a flag, OR the Bible, is a smokescreen. It doesn't grant you immunity. It's like holding up a medal for finishing a marathon without actually running it. The medal means nothing if you didn't run the distance. Similarly, waving the flag or holding the Bible mean nothing if you aren’t espousing the principles of those symbols. Imstead, they are being used as a form of oppression and propaganda. It's not much different, to me, than holding up a machete. The Bible is just a book if it has no principles and the flag is just cloth if it has no promises and principles.

The way blacks (women and all people of color and gays and lesbians) have been treated in this country up until this very minute is ghastly. Those in power should feel very fortunate that the oppressed are just taking a (quiet) knee…people’s rights matter more than hollow anthems and promises that are never kept.

How about asking a Native American to stand and salute the flag right after he was placed on a reservation.

I can get emotional just imagining a young soldier dying in the Normandy invasion or an 18 year old kid who, just months prior, went to his high school prom but who stepped on a land mine in Vietnam and is now gone. My empathy for their sacrifice will never end…but, to me, they were sacrificing, not for a fascist regime or a flag, but for a set of promises. Waving a flag or singing a song are NO substitute for those promises. Anyone can have a colorful flag. All countries have one. What matters is what a country stands for, and even what it kneels for. History can tell us the dark stories of what happens with blind nationalism.

That’s why women should have "taken a knee" every day until they finally got their right to vote back in 1920.... when they were being beaten, imprisoned, and bloodied in the streets wanting the Constitutional promises to apply to them. Women were not even allowed to vote…would you tell them to "stand up" and not “disgrace” the flag when , in fact, their rights as Americans were not being acknowledged?….If this is truly the land of the “free” and "all men are created equal" then don’t demonize those who think that when the promises of the flag are being violated then the flag, itself, is just a piece of cloth. It's a tool. It’s red, white, and blue chloroform. Symbols, are fine, and, like words, they have their place but they are no substitute for action. Just ask any black person who was lynched for being black or who was told they couldn’t eat at an all white restaurant if they would rather have their dignity and Constitutionally promised freedoms or ...an American flag to wave. Only in America would we have expected slaves to salute the American flag….

I have no doubt that Thomas Jefferson would not be siding with the government in place…he believed in a very decentralized government. And like Dwight Eisenhower years later, Jefferson would have warned of the "Military industrial complex"….he would definitely have taken up arms against what we have now…From all of his words, and actions, I can say with certainty that Jefferson would be ashamed of how oppressive, and corrupt, and ossified this government has become. You can stand still for the flag (and call it a day) if you want but if I have to choose...... I prefer to march for the oppressed and violated and ignored and dismissed.

In a letter written to John Adams son in law in 1787

"What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion?
And what country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not
warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of
resistance? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.

-Thomas Jefferson

Food for thought....