Running racism in America thread

There is a discussion in America right now about what is “tear gas.”

 

One place in particular.

 

As a veteran, I will respectfully disagree with many of your comments about playing the anthem before sporting events.
I have never not stood perfectly at attention, and almost always sing along (in my head because I can't carry a tune in a bucket).

As a veteran, I will argue your right to not respect it. But just like flag burning (which I can cite SCOTUS cases that uphold it and support), your chances of doing so in my immediate presence are functionally less than zero.

I'm the "voice of" my school and run the press box on Friday nights. If I catch a student acting like a slapdick or a guy not removing his cap, I've been known to call them out by name over the PA. Almost always on Monday morning before the first bell, the kid comes to me saying, "Coach Driftwood, I'm sorry."

 

I’m not a vet, draft was over and I went to college. My dad served in Navy and used GI Bill to go to electrical apprenticeship school.

That’s fine, that’s your opinion. But you’re old enough to remember when the anthem wasn’t THE ANTHEM! and wasn’t the ultimate show of your patriotism.

Respecting your country and the Vets means to me adequate pay and VA benefits, GI Bill, proper equipment and battlefield support and most importantly providing mental and economic support for transition into everyday society after leaving. Wake up people, all this anthem stuff is to cover up the sad way we treat our vets.

 

I have to attend some of the chapter meetings for our region's PGA of America chapter for work on occasion, and they play the national anthem before the meeting starts. I find it absurd and out of place, even if there are some military members in attendance.

 

That's not so bad. I'm just tired of it. I've heard it way more in my life than the average American, who runs for a beer when it plays on TV.

 

See that’s the issue, law enforcement and political leaders need to DO SOMETHING, you can t just wish the problem away as we see more and more black men killed needlessly by law enforcement.

To date, it’s like the Ford Pinto problem, the math has been “let’s just keep doing the same and pay lawsuit damages rather than change”. People need to demand change.

 

With all due respect, you served so people could act like slapdicks. The freedoms won are worth more than the symbols thereof.

 

I know some people who won't acknowledge the flag/anthem precisely because they are told when to.

 

When are people going to learn the difference between patriotism and jingoism and symbolism? Standing for a piece of cloth and singing a song ain't shit. It doesn't do anything and it doesn't mean anything. It's as hokey as singing all of the words to your college fight song. Know what's patriotic? Voting, and holding people in office accountable. Speaking out and allowing others to do the same. You have motherfuckers in a huff over taking knees who couldn't tell you their state senators. That's not being a patriot. That's being a lout.

 

Oh, I think on some level - and this issue is actually four years old, right - Brees knows what Kaepernick would have been kneeling for. I do think he had a specific grievance against cops - not sure the ol pig socks helped communicate it, but whatever - that, over time, with shaping from outside influences, grew into a grievance that's all-encompassing and thus hard to pin down.

My point is Brees knew what he was saying both times.

 

His problem is not that he stands for the playing of a British drinking song and holds his hand over his heart in reverence of a piece of cloth. The problem is that he chooses to interpret others' actions as a sign of boorishness and that he refuses, in that moment, to acknowledge others' experiences.
A more empathetic answer might have been: "Yeah, I do think it's a sign of disrespect for the country, but maybe I should consider that they have a right to feel that way. I don't believe in expressing disdain for the country, but their experience is different. And perhaps it is appropriate for them to express that disdain."