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This is murrica and we stand for this song that was written during a war that was going on many years after our country was founded!
No. It’s not just a song. It’s the National Anthem of the United States of America. Its words have meaning. Its symbolism has meaning. It is not just a song. To rob it of its symbolism is to say that respect for one’s country is pointless and holds no value. It’s to say that the people who work and fight to give us the freedoms that we have were doing so without need nor purpose, and we do not honor them because who gives a crap.
But to show protest of injustice by sitting during the anthem is a legitimate form of protest, and is not inherently disrespectful toward the country itself so long as the purpose of protest is made plain.
The way I understand it is that the players are not protesting the anthem, they’re not protesting the wording or the imagery or the ideals and virtues and values it conveys that the country stands for, they are instead protesting the country because they believe that the country does not currently stand for the ideals and virtues and values set forth in the anthem.
What they are saying: “Hey, there is a disconnect in what we think and say that the country stands for, and what it actually seems to stand for, especially for people of color. We are acknowledging this in the hopes that it is rectified.”
What they are not saying: “Hey we hate the anthem and America and the veterans!”
This logic and nuance, of course, has all been lost in the conservative-driven distilled rhetoric that these people just must simply hate America and her values and everything she stands for, which is asinine to say the least, and completely shunts all attention away from the real issues, fabricating an entirely different straw man issue and ultimately solving no problems and only further dividing an already-divided populace. It feels like nobody stops to think or empathize anymore, it’s just visceral, gut, knee-jerk reactions and opinions fed to them by cable “news” channels with no thought in between.
In fact, from what I’ve heard, the whole reason it’s (usually) kneeling instead of just sitting on the bench and ignoring the whole thing is in deference to the veterans who served the country in defense of her values and ideals.
Personally, I think it is incredibly moving to see the mass kneeling going on right now (I’d be even happier if people weren’t intentionally or unintentionally misconstruing it and actually taking action to understand and empathize and reflect inwardly and make some changes, but that’s humanity for you). In a few years from now when it becomes a fad way to protest whatever (like Chyron said), maybe that’ll have worn off by then, but for now I approve.
JEDIT: Usually I hate Twitter threads and when people post them, but I’m going to break all these rules right… now:
https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/900101086333292544Yep yep yep.
si si si.
