Let me start this off by saying I am a retired Air Force man. I put my time in and enjoyed the people I worked with.
However, I think that trying to act like you are supporting a cause by kneeling at a football game does not make much sense. The cause, the "oppression of black people and people of colour". Are there injustices in the world? Damn right there is. But it is not just against one race or nationality. It is your government that is doing the oppression. All governments do it.
I am not saying it is not a legitimate cause. It sure is. Oppression and brutality by the policeman of the world, be they military doing the bidding of their countries or policeman acting on the direction of whatever government agency they work for, needs to stop.
But don't just kneel for people of colour. Are you not a human first? Should he have not said that he was fighting for the rights of people to be free from oppression, regardless of colour?
The government foments devision. The government encourages it. Black against white, rich against poor, republican against democrat, your country against my country, etc, etc, etc.
Football gives us an out. Time to forget all the things that is wrong with this country. For that matter, all countries. Football is a way to yell and support a game we love. To cheer for your favorite player, team or country. If you really want to protest, I think that we can really make a statement if you want to.
Let us take it to the next level and do it right. Let's not piss around acting like we are doing something. Kneeling is not the answer. Let's all take to the streets and protest like we mean it.
Let's quit our jobs and take to the streets. Let's surround our government buildings and stay there until real change takes place. We can make everything grind to a halt. Peaceful protests. If weeks or months is what it takes, we can do that as a group. That would be a real statement.
Let's form a different government also. One that supports the rights of all people to have freedom of expression, to have no government oppression and to treat all humans equally. Oh, yeah. We did that a few hundred years ago. It worked for a little while, didn't it?
I personally agree that police are becoming tyrants and killers. They treat people like they are less than human. It comes from the top. The directives come from their bosses. It has to stop. So, if you think it is time to do something about it, do it. But don't act like you are supporting a cause by kneeling, then making your millions after the music stops.
Their are no easy answers in life. I certainly don't have many answers. I would just like to enjoy watching the combat we call football. If you want to bring injustice to light, you can do it other ways. You are famous, you will get your time on TV. Go for it. I will support you. But really DO SOMETHING that will get results. As it is now, people will just tire of the kneeling story after it has run it's course. They will move on to living their lives. That's the way life is. Tomorrow will be another story to take it's place.
All we can do as a people is try to treat someone as we would like to be treated. And don't tolerate it if someone doesn't treat you with respect. If everyone did that, we would not be in the state we are in.
So forgive me if I am not all in on this kneeling thing. It had it's time. However, it is not really accomplishing much, is it? It makes someone feel good, but the oppression and injustices will continue as always, unless real change happens. If you want to make real change, just put the word out there. You have the mike. People will listen. Then we can finally start to fix this country. I am with you.
Comments