We are Not Listening to the Anthem Protests

“To Sin in Silence when We Should Protest makes Cowards Out of Men” Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There are many different issues that plague this country and there will always be problems that plague this country.  How can we expect anything less when we are trying to be a country that prides itself on its diversity and freedoms?  If we do not try to fix these issues, however, then we are only giving lip service to what this country really is versus what it could be.

In this country, we have the right to protest something as a way of trying to make real change.  This is a right for everyone, even for the people/groups that we may not believe should have the right.  Like anything, though, protests only bring about change when they are taken seriously and when people want to make the change.

A good example of this is people protesting our national anthem.  It all started with one quarterback who chose to not stand during the national anthem.  It wasn’t until he was actually noticed that someone asked why he was doing it.  He honestly said that he was protesting the oppression of black people in this country as well as police treatment towards black people.  As soon as this was made public, the new world of social media began.

Of course, as with the burning of the flag, anything related to the ‘patriotism’ of this country is deemed wrong.  The haters came out, calling names, saying they were spoiled athletes or taking away their endorsements.  In the end, we were happy when they were entertaining us but when they use their celebrity to call out the issues of the country, then they are bad people.

People joining the protest are doing so making the sacrifice for something they believe in.  They know there will be consequences, they know there will be haters but they believe in trying to get some action on the things they believe in.  It is a lot better than people sitting behind a computer ‘protesting’ on Facebook or Twitter or afraid to protest because it will cost them something.  If one is not willing to sacrifice themselves for the protest then it is just empty.

Would this protest be viewed differently if white people and the police joined in?  There are a lot of both that probably do believe the same thing but are they afraid to do anything because it would cause a problem?  I actually told someone that I was going to join this protest and their response was no you are not.  No asking me why, just no I was not.  If we are trying to get racism changed in this country, white people can’t always be the enemy and black people can’t always be the victim because both are needed to make the change.  We also can't be afraid to join in the protest just because we are white or with the police.

Is one of the reasons that this protest is so divided because they do not do a good job of communicating the agenda beyond the protest?  It is great to say the agenda at the beginning but one still has to create actions on it so that it does not get lost in the distractions.  As these protests continue, I do not see any of these athletes getting together with police officials to see what can be done to make things better.  I do not see police leader’s or black leader’s trying to fix this issue yet both sides have no problem complaining about the protest itself.  There comes a time when there has to be more done beyond putting up a fist in the name of solidarity.

What about empathizing with the people fighting against the protest or not joining the protest?  Has anyone bothered to ask why some athletes have not joined the protest even though they believe the same problem?  Why have we not seen one protestor say they do not feel they are disrespecting the people that have died for the flag, if anything it is the greatest respect to use the very freedom they died for to change things.  Being against a protest or not joining is as much of a right but it doesn’t mean those people can’t be brought together to help change the issue.

Another part of protesting is the images of the protests themselves.  Over the years different pictures from this country and the world have shown protests but how many inspired changes versus inspired violence.  If we showed more images that would inspire or question change, would that help get more people together?  How can we not be inspired from a single person standing in front of a tank in Tenemin square to help change why that tank is there in the first place?  How inspired are we when we see Muslims burning a flag in Iran?  Where we should be inspired with pictures of people not standing for the national anthem instead we seem to just show pictures of people looting for three days.

Protesting is something we should be proud of in this country and we should show the world how this freedom helps to get things changed.  Unfortunately, the reality of protesting is that we continue to let it divide us and create more hate.  The more this happens, the less we will protest to change anything.  This is exactly what the people we are protesting against want because then they can continue to do the things that are wrong.

Albert Einstein said “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right”.  There is a severe race problem in this country one that has divided us so bad that now the police are one side of it.  We need to listen to these people who are doing something they know is not popular by using an event we hold sacred to protest because they feel what they are doing is right.