I hate you kneeling for the National Anthem, but not because I hate you.
You may have heard me say something similar to what you’ll read in this blog post, but I wanted to get it in print for some reason. I guess it’s because I want people to be able to read it, think about it, and discuss it with me instead of it just being something only some people hear when I say it on air.
I hate you kneeling for the National Anthem, but not because I hate you. I hate you kneeling for the National Anthem, because I love you.
It makes me sick when I see athletes kneeling during the National Anthem. It doesn’t make me sick because that athlete is Unamerican, Unpatriotic or hates our troops. If you love the men and women who serve our military, you know so many of them have done it for the right to protest, even in ways it makes you uncomfortable.
It makes me uncomfortable to see you kneel during the National Anthem because it makes me uncomfortable that you feel you can’t stand with the country because you feel the country doesn’t stand with you, or with the people of your community. While the idea of someone not standing for the National Anthem makes me very uncomfortable, it doesn’t make me nearly as uncomfortable as the idea that so many men and women of color feel minimalized and like they aren’t treated the same as white people in this country. The reason is simple. They aren’t. If you can’t acknowledge that, you’re not being honest with yourself.
I have quite a few black men in my life who I love like brothers. Men I know and trust, and men who don’t just throw around the race card. Time and again these men have told me that I could never understand what it’s like to be black. Men who know me. Men who love me. Men who know that I’m an ally. They know I love them. They know I support them. But also, they know that no matter how much I love them, or empathize with them, that I’ll never truly understand their plight.
Some want to write these men and women and their feelings off as overblown. If you’re one of those people, I suggest you’re not being honest with yourself. I’ve heard everything from blatant racist remarks to more hidden prejudices from people around me, some even people who were close to me my entire life, and I honestly believe you’re not being honest with yourself if you say you haven’t.
I hate when you kneel for the National Anthem. But I stand with you. I hate that you kneel, but I respect your right to do so, and I understand that protest that happens in a sanitized way is almost always overlooked.
I hope we can find a way to come to a place in this country where you can stand next to me with pride in a country that makes you feel like you are treated no better or worse than anyone else, because that’s what everyone deserves.
I hate when you kneel for the National Anthem, because I love you.