Did you know that when our country first started using the pledge of allegiance, rather than hold our hands over our hearts, we gave it the ol' Nazi salute?
That right there is called "The Bellamy Salute" and you can find hundreds of pictures like this. Now there's nothing inherently evil about holding you're hand out like that, but for obvious reasons in 1942, Congress replaced it with the hand over heart method we arbitrarily use today (which means there was at least a three-year overlap with the Nazi Salute). I use the word arbitrarily because that's what it, the pledge of allegiance and all other patriotic nonsense are.
Now whether or not you care about sports you've probably been hearing a lot about Colin Kaepernick, the Quarterback (hardly) for the San Francisco 49ers. He recently chose to sit down while everyone else stood during the National Anthem. I have to imagine it wasn't two minutes later blog posts were talking about how unpatriotic he was for not showing respect to a very old and mostly boring song written by a guy who was stuck on a boat. Did you guys know there are four verses? Some patriots you are. That's right; we respect the song and the freedoms it stands for so much that we can't even be bothered to listen to it in its entirety.
But Kaepernick had his reasons for sitting. He, like many justified minorities in this country in their ways, was protesting the unfair treatment of the evermore disenfranchised and alienated minorities. And he had a god damn right to do so. As far as protests go, it was pretty respectful. He didn't piss on an American flag; he didn't punch a Veteran. He just remained seated during a period where people traditionally stand and now people are calling him unpatriotic and that he should leave America. I guess I should too, I think the pledge of allegiance is stupid, God needs to be taken out of all of our political processes, and our election system is a joke. But overall, America is a pretty cool place which is why guys like Kaep and me stay here and try to talk about why it could be better.
The point of a protest isn't just to protest, it's to call attention to a bigger issue and right now, and for the past several decades, that issue is being ignored. Imagine if it hadn't been Colin Kaepernick sitting during the anthem. What if this was one year ago and the shovel faced the golden boy who is secretly a sex offender Peyton Manning had done the same thing. He would have been lauded for his courageous stance, and basically, the exact opposite of what is happening now is what would have happened then.
America guys! Ain't it great! Trump says we should make it great again, and we want to make him president; Colin Kaepernick says we should make it great again, and we tell him to get on a boat and leave.
Don't look now, but our Country's white privilege is showing.
