ARE YOU REALLY BEING HEARD? WHAT MESSAGE ARE THE NFL PROTESTORS REALLY GIVING?
I am less interested in what the NFL players have the 'right' to do as what the consequences are and the message really being received.
Speak! By all means, speak! Use your platform to speak. But speak in such a way and in such a place where those who have fought for your freedoms, whose ancestors bled and died for your freedoms, will hear your voice and rally behind you, not feel that you are spitting on them.
Is the true message the NFL players who refused to stand for America's National Anthem, really about racial injustice? Is that the message people have really received?
It is said that Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics of what we know as America's National Anthem on the back of a letter he pulled from his pocket on the morning of September 14, 1814, after a night of British bombardment. The flag he saw was waving over Fort McHenry. The poem was first called - “The Defence of Fort McHenry.
At that time in history, there were slaves and freemen. There were those who owned slaves and those who did not. But the battle that was being fought was against the British. It was not the Civil War. When the Civil War did take place there were people fighting to be able to continue the despicable practice of slavery, both white and black. White men did fight for this right and white men died wanting it to end. America has come a long way since then. If you try to lump our country into one big lump, you can see it as either all bad or all good and be wrong either way. A country is made up of individuals. Not all people of one race held the same views before the Civil War, nor do they today.
By 1860 one census shows there to have been 3,952,801 slaves in America while the entire population was 31,429,891. 22 states did not have slavery.
There were both white people and people of color who practiced slavery. I did not realize this until recently.
According to - http://www.theroot.com/did-black-people-own-slaves-1790895436 - some free black people in this country bought and sold other black people, and did so at least since 1654, continuing to do so right through the Civil War. - “And for a time, free black people could even "own" the services of white indentured servants in Virginia as well. Free blacks owned slaves in Boston by 1724 and in Connecticut by 1783; by 1790, 48 black people in Maryland owned 143 slaves. One particularly notorious black Maryland farmer named Nat Butler "regularly purchased and sold Negroes for the Southern trade," Halliburton wrote. - Perhaps the most insidious or desperate attempt to defend the right of black people to own slaves was the statement made on the eve of the Civil War by a group of free people of color in New Orleans, offering their services to the Confederacy, in part because they were fearful for their own enslavement: "The free colored population [native] of Louisiana … own slaves, and they are dearly attached to their native land … and they are ready to shed their blood for her defense. They have no sympathy for abolitionism; no love for the North, but they have plenty for Louisiana … They will fight for her in 1861 as they fought [to defend New Orleans from the British] in 1814-1815."
The truth is that in this country there were many who held to this horrible practice and many who did not. It is a mistake then, to look at all people of one race as being of a certain mindset and heart and it is wrong to look at an entire country and judge it by what only a part of its population is doing.
Even today, while there is racial injustice in our country, there are people of different nationalities who are not experiencing this as they live together on an equal basis. We have come a long way since Martin Luther King held his non-violent protests. But he did more than simply make himself obvious as a protester of something. He spoke words of truth, life and hope, making clear what his dream was and speaking of the truth of God. He did not despise nor disrespect his entire country.
Across America there are men who have stood behind pulpits, and spoke on public media, using the Bible for selfish purposes. Men take scriptures out of context and lie. People are confused, deceived and lied to using the Bible. And it has been used as a means for pastors to claim superior positions of authority over others while leading people into bondage. False doctrines are taught by wolves in sheep's clothing, dividing, scattering and bringing sheep to their deaths. At the same time, the true church of the living God marches on, loving, growing, edifying and doing spiritual warfare against the works of darkness. Now, if, because there are so many injustices done in the name of the Bible and the Church, you were to march down the aisle of your church on a Sun. morning, when the congregation was asked to stand for the reading of the Word of God, and you were to sit down on the floor in front of the pulpit as the congregation stood in reverence to the Bible, what would be thought?
You might be escorted out of the building. If so, suppose you called out that you were sitting in protest of the injustices propagated by the misuse of the Bible. How many would think it was alright for you to show disrespect for the Bible because some people were misusing it? Indeed, you would get attention. You might even get your name in the paper if you continued to do this, or went from church to church doing the same thing. But would the end justify the means? Would it really be alright to disrespect the Bible and the church to make your point? And even if you think it would be, what would be the message most people would really get from your actions? Would most of the people say, “He is brave to get our attention about the abuse of the Bible that is going on in other places of our country? We really should do more about it? Or would the shock and anger over your obvious disrespect for the Bible cloud out every other consideration?
When NFL players refuse to stand for the national anthem it is seen as disrespect for an entire country. Not just any country, but the very country in which they work and grow very rich. The country in which there are more black players than white and in which many have obtained fame. This action is not only, or primarily, getting attention concerning racial injustice, but has served rather to stir up even more unrest and division. It is not bringing a solution to the issue the players claim to be protesting about. It is not encouraging unity.
I am not out to deny constitutional rights. However, whatever our rights may be, what is our PURPOSE? Wisdom would have us use our privileges, not in a way that teaches our children to despise an entire country, where there are men who fight for all of our freedoms, but in ways that bring hope.
Do we have a right to make non-violent protests? Yes, we do. Well … some of the time. What? Some of the time? Are you kidding me? No … but … if you are an employee you actually DO NOT have the right to complete freedom of speech, on the job, in America. As a matter of fact look how one legal scholar explains it. And what is said in an article on - http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/article/law-professor-stop-saying-football-players-have-constitutional-right-kneel-during-national - This is what legal scholar Teresa Stanton Collett had to say on the subject: - “I don't watch football. I don't care about football. But I do care about constitutional literacy. Please stop saying football players have first amendment rights to disregard the direction of their private employers while engaged in privately sponsored activities -- which is what NFL football games are,” said Collett, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. “They have no more constitutional protection for their expressive activities than I do for mine at my private Catholic university. Any 'rights' they have are based on their contracts and employment law.”
(Cillizza atually acknowledges this fact later in his CNN piece: “Yes, the NFL is a private association made up of 32 team owners. And, yes, as such, they have the right to fire or penalize an employee who, they believe, engages in conduct unbecoming to the team.”)
It’s also worth pointing out what the NFL’s game operations manual says on the subject:
“The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem.
During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
We could discuss till doom's day, whether or not the team owners 'should' fire the players who will not show respect to our country and whether or not the players 'should' refuse to stand for the National Anthem, but that will not change the legality.
'Should' and have the 'right to' are two different things.
I believe it is good to do something about injustices in our country. I believe there is a place to speak out. But why cry into the wind where your voice is lost and distorted? Why act in a way that will defeat your purpose? Much wrong has been done in this country. Much progress has been made in this country that does not hold it's people in a vise grip by a tyrannical king who will behead you for speaking of change and injustice.
Speak! By all means, speak! But speak in such a way and in such a place where those who have fought for your freedoms, whose ancestors bled and died for your freedoms, will hear your voice and rally behind you, not feel that you are spitting on them.
Do not protest injustice in a way that leaves people feeling hopeless as though their entire country is against them. Point to those who have cared, bled and died for the rights of all Americans and offer some direction for more solutions. Remind the people of what has already been accomplished and urge them toward even more. Remember change comes one person at a time. America has more than a few who hate injustice. Get people's attention by all means! But do it in a way that is profitable.
The NFL players who will not stand for the National Anthem give a message that is not what they are protesting … or does it really? Is the disrespecting of a country really more the goal than what their words say?
Christians know that we have been given a free will. We have a right to sin if we want to. We can speak words of filth and hate or words of life. We have the right. We have the freedom. And we also will face the consequences of what we choose to do with our 'rights.'
We can tell people they are going to hell and leave them with their condemnation or we can inform them, not only of their condition but of the joyous hope, the way to freedom and life. We have the 'right' to do either, but what is more profitable?
I am less interested in what the NFL players have the 'right' to do than what the consequences are and the message really being received.
