Coming in hot today. No preambles or "hi, how are you" today... because fuck it, I'm done with this.
§301. National anthem
(a) Designation.-The composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem.
(b) Conduct During Playing.-During a rendition of the national anthem-
(1) when the flag is displayed-
(A) individuals in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note;
(B) members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute in the manner provided for individuals in uniform; and
(C) all other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and
(2) when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed.
It says to stand the fuck up... period. One would assume if someone does not stand-up, it is reasonable to assume that they're guilty of breaking US Code (the law)
Now here is the tricky part... The 1st Amendment or the 1st Article of the Bill of Rights, which includes or discusses the right to free speech, along with religion, petition and assemble.
Is silence the same as free speech? (and oh by the way, it totally doesn't mean you can say anything you want. It doesn't cover profanity or defamation of a person/people... like calling a group of people "sons of bitches".) Anyway, I digressed. So again I ask:
In order to be heard, is a group or person's silence the same as free speech?
Is expression a form of protected speech?
Is kneeling a form of expression?
If the above is all true, why in the wide, wide, world of sports is there a US law which contradicts a basic right of the 1st Amendment?
I thought I knew what my opinion on this subject was, when I posted a clever little meme on Facebook last week... but now, I just don't know. The playing of the National Anthem (at least now and at sporting events) is to done to honor service members both alive and dead, who've guaranteed through their service contracts or with their lives, the freedoms and rights we all enjoy. Yes, the playing of the National Anthem started when the Department of Defense gave a lot of money to the NFL.... but still it's not a bad thing. It is something we should be doing. Honoring our Vets should never be called in to question by a citizen of this nation.
While I can say without doubt that kneeling is not something I would do, or will ever do... (That will never change) I'm not so sure, or as sure as I was last week, that the 1st amendment gives people the right to protest in this current form. I know lots of people who think they're constitutional scholars, but that's not the same as a ruling from SCOTUS. If any of you know of specific rulings, as it pertains to protected speech/silence... etc., please share, because I'm listening and facts influence me, as they should all of us.
I know what the kneeling in silence or standing in a tunnel out of sight is being done. Players are doing it to call to attention racial inequality, as it pertains to police brutality and profiling... at least that's why it started. Now it seems the "protest" is being done to call to attention the racial divide that still exists. My thought is that this is due to the "racist lines" of the anthem.
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Key was a lawyer, who was a slave owner, and yes there are words which reference slaves and freemen. While I don't believe he was specifically celebrating slavery in this instance, that's just my opinion. Slavery was the normal at that time. While we know better... it doesn't change the fact that slavery was the norm,which was accepted by whites for the first 100 years in our Nations history. The next 100 were spent ensuring the same rights for blacks as whites. The last 50... well it's difficult to say.
Something positive? President Obama. A black man in the White House. Progress is awesome!
Something negative? The continuing lack of educational opportunities and disproportionate incarceration rates for young black men... because weed.
Take weed and minor drug convictions off the table... crime stats of who/what gets done to how doesn't really favor one demographic over another.
I'm tired.
I'm tired of defending my views.
I'm tired of defending other's views.
I'm tired of friends fighting.
I'm tired of families fighting.
I'M TIRED OF ALL THE FUCKING "ADULTS" WHO CANT ACT LIKE IT AND CAN'T REALIZE CHANGE DOES NOT COME BY WAY OF YELLING AND SCREAMING...
Change comes with talking; and more importantly LISTENING. When there are civil tongues and civil discussion... it's much easier to make decisions and implement legislation on what's best for everyone, when people are listening to one another.
Munch
P.S. Also... please tell your friends to stop using the stupid flag etiquette clothing meme. The US code references flags. Flags, not apparel to be worn to cover our naked asses. In other words:
You or I can wear a garment with a flag or even a clothing piece designed to be look like a flag...
You or I just can't wear an actual flag as a piece of clothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave feedback.... it's the only way I know if you enjoyed what you read.