How dare you. How dare I not.

Forty-niners quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, is getting a lot of negative attention for his recent choice to take a stand by not standing for the National Anthem because in his opinion racism in the US is still a problem. Well, folks Mr. Kaepernick, has a point, racism is still a thing in the US. While his protest has generated a lot of talk very little of it is in the right direction, of addressing the issue of racism. So you might say that his protest failed. But has it really failed. The sit ins of the civil rights movement did not change things dramatically over night, it took years before meaningful legislation was passed and enforcement of those laws occurred. The same is true for any social change. Certainly Colin hit a nerve with many people but most people do not even think about the meaning of standing up for the national anthem it is a reflex and little to no thought is put into why we stand, it is just something we do. There is not anything particularly patriotic about most sporting events, and they are usually not political events by any measure. Playing the national anthem at the beginning of sporting contests isn’t necessary nor is it required by any law. Somehow it has worked into the fabric of sporting events, and graduations, and other things where someone thinks it should happen as a matter of national pride or some other political gesturing. There is no law that requires the national anthem to be performed at any time, there are some rules regarding how to behave during the playing of the national anthem but these are “should” rather than “shall” making them optional or the preferred means to show “respect” but are not required (unless on a military base, installation, or ship). I put respect in quotes because you can fake respect for anything by doing what is “expected” of you without having any respect for the action. Which is worse; not doing what is expected or faking the respect, that is a question for another discussion. So while you may disagree with the protest and that is your right, Mr. Kaepernick has the right to protest peacefully if he chooses even if you don’t like how he has chosen to protest. Personally I think that all the people who have hung their flags upside down during President Obama’s administration are doing something disrespectful and I don’t agree with their form of protest, but they have the right to protest in that manner, even if I don’t like it. One of the things that is truly great about the US is that we have the right to protest governmental and social wrong doing. Not everyone is going to agree with the means of protesting or with the issue that is being protested. While it may seem hypocritical for an overpaid adult playing a game to say things are not fair for some folks in the US, there is no requirement that you must be part of the oppressed group, or you must be subjected to the unfairness, to say things are not right. It wasn’t all women saying women should have the vote, it wasn’t all black people saying that basic civil rights needed to be law. Pick any social issue where a group is treated unfairly by the government / social system and the people protesting the unfair treatment, are not all in the group which is oppressed or treated unfairly. Like most protests the message is lost in the rhetoric of the unrelated issues, so if you want to hate Mr. Kaepernick, okay you can, if you want to burn his jersey, you can probably do that too, you may want to have a hose ready though, fire can be dangerous. You can even refuse to go see 49ers football or watch the games on TV. You can even ask that he be fired, fined or traded. You can do all of those things, but he can still protest by not standing for the national anthem. I served this country in the armed forces to protect everyone’s rights, not just those people who think like I do. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015, Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards