I wasn’t sure where to start. I wasn’t even sure what to say. But then, I realized that if they don’t understand by now, then an average blogger like me will have better luck trying to persuade a flea not to bite a dog’s ass. In the end, this is for those willing to listen from someone involuntarily representing a group of people not considered fully human or truly American.
I know some of you are angry over a certain football star, and his actions. You know, him kneeling during the National Anthem. You’re probably even more pissed that other football stars are following his lead. And you see how most, if not all, of them are black. And as such, that likely touched a nerve that set off your color-aroused bigotry.
We’ve seen this time and time again. We know the score. So, it’s useless to claim how you’re not a racist, nor will your faux-pology hold any weight. Personally, I’ve been taught that actions speak louder than words. So, you’re usual retorts and denial are powerless against your use of the n-word and other racial epithets.
Well, some of you will go that route while others will bitch and moan about how it’s your right to use hateful language, because apparently, if you can’t say something nice, say it anyway because free speech.
So, you will get mad at these athletes and the people who back them up. You will tell the ones with darker hues to go back to Africa. Telling black people when they’re upset at the injustices in America that affects the black community tremendously or exclusively to go back to Africa is one of the most heartless commands to give when they’re suffering in some way. It’s also nonsensical seeing as how most Black Americans are born in America and helped to create it. For generations, we largely built this country. We helped to fight for this country. We work hard to make it in this country. We respect the laws in this country. And we exercise our rights in this country, including the right to protest. You will say anything hurtful and destructive to avoid listening to why black people protest or should protest. Maybe it’s not so much as you think that black people don’t have anything to fight against. Maybe, just maybe it’s more along the lines that you don’t think black people are ALLOWED to stand up for anything that only affects them probably due to your unwillingness to see them as American citizens.
Black people, in general, love this country. We love it more than you want to know and give us credit for. Hell, we may even love this country more than you so-called patriots. The current issue at hand is that this country doesn’t love us back. The murder of unarmed black folks by fear-based police is but one example.
When Black Americans who posed no threat are killed left and right by people charged with protecting its citizens and then those people are primarily unpunished for taking innocent lives, it should be understandable that black people should get upset. But it’s not understandable to you, is it? Instead, you prefer that we handle a problem you think is important, black-on-black crime. You think we only get active when it’s a cop-based execution. Even worse is that you believe we hate police, and that we’re out to do to them what they’ve done to us.
Black folks have explained it over and over again. We simply want to be treated with the same rights and privileges as white people by police and other institutions in this country. We don’t want to take over. We don’t want hand outs. We don’t want revenge. And we are doing everything we can about the problem of crime in neighborhoods. To make a long story short, black people are doing everything they can to make America fulfill its potential, to truly turn it into a land of opportunity of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the people, of the people and by the people.
But that’s still lost on you, and I can only guess that it’s due to you ignoring what we’re saying and avoiding what we’re doing. Your main beef is with athletes taking a knee during a song and you think that they’re disrespecting the flag, a decorated cloth used as a national symbol while a sporting event is about to commence.
And you think that’s patriotism. That’s the problem.
Patriotism is not about waving flags and singing songs that praise America. It’s about fighting out of one’s love for this nation. It’s about standing up for the injustices happening in this country. And it’s about fighting so that a nation becomes true to its word. Black people are not doing this out of hate. They’re doing this out of love, true love for this country, not some cosmetic affection born out of blind worship. Maybe you should learn more from them.