Kapernick versus the Anthem and the Flag, a Lesson for All
By Susan Steffen-Kraft
Quite frankly, I don't care if Colin Kapernick stands for the flag and anthem or if he doesn't. It is his right to not stand as our servicemen and women fought for his freedom and right to kneel or sit. If he feels what he is doing will fix the problem with the police and black people, which I fail to see it would because the problem is being blown up by the media, BLM, and liberals. He is just a useful tool for malcontents.
Do I worship the flag and anthem? No, I do not! They merely stand for something we should be following today which is the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
I have never once heard him speak up for those 3 documents; and he should have as the flag is a piece of cloth and the anthem is a song. Now, do I stand up; why yes, yes I do. But do they represent what they should; well, not really many times anymore if I am truthful, because of the perversity's in our government, but I doubt Colin truly understands the how and why of that.
I stand by our military and the need for one even though I disapprove of the wars where we go invade other countries; I want our boys brought back home. Do I stand with our police; yes, I do, but only if they are doing the right thing and supporting our 3 sacred documents which some seem not to even know or understand.
So where was Colin when Jack Yantis the rancher from Idaho was murdered by lawless cops? I could give other examples, but of course, as in the case of Yantis who was only a white rancher, Colin and the BLM were not there to protest. Protest for black people being mistreated and you should be protesting for all people.
As for the NFL and Roger Goodell; shame on them for allowing Kapernick to not stand and honor the flag and anthem and yet, they refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys' request to wear a decal on their helmets during their season paying tribute to the five officers killed in a July 7, 2016 ambush. Fair is fair and apparently Goodell and the NFL are favoring Colin and the 49ers. How wrong is that? Note that Colin Kapernick did not protest that move.
How about protesting how the N. Dakota Indians are being treated over this pipeline situation. They feel very violated from everything I have read and gathered. Has he done one thing to help them? I have not read that he has. Their rights should be important also, but that is a story in itself. If he is making a statement for justice then kneel or sit for Yantis and the N. Dakota Indians. In fact just stand for their rights.
Below, the picture of how the Seahawks team did it. The flag was there and the players were sending a message of love and unity. The players, coaches and team personnel linked arms in front of a huge American flag that was stretched across Century Link field.No defiance offered but the message was still delivered. Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin said. "We wanted to do something together as a team. The statement that we're making, is obviously we want to honor those lives that have been lost 15 years ago on this tragic day (9/11), also honor those who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom that we cherish.
"We want to ensure that freedom and the security of justice for all people," he added. "It's a situation where you've heard us. The message is very clear. You've heard us. Now we're asking you to listen to our message. It's as simple as that."
Bravo, Seattle Seahawks. You covered it all and covered it well.
Do I worship the flag and anthem? No, I do not! They merely stand for something we should be following today which is the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
I have never once heard him speak up for those 3 documents; and he should have as the flag is a piece of cloth and the anthem is a song. Now, do I stand up; why yes, yes I do. But do they represent what they should; well, not really many times anymore if I am truthful, because of the perversity's in our government, but I doubt Colin truly understands the how and why of that.
I stand by our military and the need for one even though I disapprove of the wars where we go invade other countries; I want our boys brought back home. Do I stand with our police; yes, I do, but only if they are doing the right thing and supporting our 3 sacred documents which some seem not to even know or understand.
So where was Colin when Jack Yantis the rancher from Idaho was murdered by lawless cops? I could give other examples, but of course, as in the case of Yantis who was only a white rancher, Colin and the BLM were not there to protest. Protest for black people being mistreated and you should be protesting for all people.
As for the NFL and Roger Goodell; shame on them for allowing Kapernick to not stand and honor the flag and anthem and yet, they refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys' request to wear a decal on their helmets during their season paying tribute to the five officers killed in a July 7, 2016 ambush. Fair is fair and apparently Goodell and the NFL are favoring Colin and the 49ers. How wrong is that? Note that Colin Kapernick did not protest that move.
How about protesting how the N. Dakota Indians are being treated over this pipeline situation. They feel very violated from everything I have read and gathered. Has he done one thing to help them? I have not read that he has. Their rights should be important also, but that is a story in itself. If he is making a statement for justice then kneel or sit for Yantis and the N. Dakota Indians. In fact just stand for their rights.
Below, the picture of how the Seahawks team did it. The flag was there and the players were sending a message of love and unity. The players, coaches and team personnel linked arms in front of a huge American flag that was stretched across Century Link field.No defiance offered but the message was still delivered. Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin said. "We wanted to do something together as a team. The statement that we're making, is obviously we want to honor those lives that have been lost 15 years ago on this tragic day (9/11), also honor those who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom that we cherish.
"We want to ensure that freedom and the security of justice for all people," he added. "It's a situation where you've heard us. The message is very clear. You've heard us. Now we're asking you to listen to our message. It's as simple as that."
Bravo, Seattle Seahawks. You covered it all and covered it well.
A flag is a piece of cloth or similar material which is usually oblong or square. It is usually attached by one edge to a pole or rope and typically is used as the symbol or emblem of a country or institution or as a decoration during public festivities. A flag made of white material of any kind, from a hanky to white paper is suppose to be a symbol of surrender or truce. If it is carried then the person carrying it is not to fire on or be fired upon as he is coming to surrender or negotiate.
Flags have also been used in the old days of wooden ships. One ship would hang out the enemy flag and then maneuver close through this deception to attack the ship of the enemy. Thus, we see that flags are useful in different ways; for good or bad. A flag is a useful piece of fabric that is typically used as a symbol, or even for sending a signal. Some flags are used only for decoration but as a rule they are messages from a person or a group.
Knights would carry flags into battle because being covered in armor it was hard to know who was who and flags helped the soldiers tell their friends from their enemies. Not nice to kill one of your own! There are many organizations or groups as in the Girl Scouts or even the United Nations who have flags. Clubs and organizations have their own flags too and the Olympic flag has five circles which represent the coming together of people from five continents in friendly competition; alright, mostly friendly.
Thus, the use of a piece of cloth as a flag has meanings and reasons behind it.
Flags have also been used in the old days of wooden ships. One ship would hang out the enemy flag and then maneuver close through this deception to attack the ship of the enemy. Thus, we see that flags are useful in different ways; for good or bad. A flag is a useful piece of fabric that is typically used as a symbol, or even for sending a signal. Some flags are used only for decoration but as a rule they are messages from a person or a group.
Knights would carry flags into battle because being covered in armor it was hard to know who was who and flags helped the soldiers tell their friends from their enemies. Not nice to kill one of your own! There are many organizations or groups as in the Girl Scouts or even the United Nations who have flags. Clubs and organizations have their own flags too and the Olympic flag has five circles which represent the coming together of people from five continents in friendly competition; alright, mostly friendly.
Thus, the use of a piece of cloth as a flag has meanings and reasons behind it.
The colors found in flags have special meanings:
Red - danger, revolution, bloodshed of war, courage, power
White - peace, surrender, truce
Orange- courage, sacrifice
Green - safety, land, youth, hope
Yellow - caution, gold
Black - mourning, death
A brief history lesson on the Star Spangled Banner (a picture of Francis Scott Key above) and its words and meaning...Can You See Our Flag or Has It Been Defeated?
"O! say can you see by the dawn’s early light,/What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming: As the sun is rising after a long night of British bombardment of our fort, can you see the flag that was flying last night as the sun set, which, as Americans, we had proudly hailed (saluted) as the light faded and the attack began?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,/O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?: We could see the flag at the ramparts, or defensive wall, of the fort, flying high during the battle.
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,/Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: All through the night, the exploding British missiles periodically lit up the flag; every so often we could see that it was still flying, and we had hope that the fort had not surrendered.
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,/O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?: Tell me, is the flag still flying, meaning we have not lost the war, and our nation is still free? (Or is the very different flag of Britain flying over Fort McHenry?)
It is an anguished question about the fate of the nation, that first stanza. It’s odd that we don’t sing the other stanzas, which are just as dramatic but more victorious. Stanza 2 reveals that the flag is indeed there: “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.”
Stanza 3 vents some fury at the British: “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 washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution./No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave”.
Stanza 4 is fully triumphant:
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved 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 preserved 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!"
From https://thehistoricpresent.com/2011/06/29/what-does-the-united-states-national-anthem-mean/
Many know not about the information above and that would include Mr. Kapernick and his cohorts. In his case, ignorance truly is bliss!
I don't ask that he stands, I just ask that he understands! He needs to understand the meaning before he does what he does!
So which is it Colin Kapernick; just in case you are that ignorant? For me the only things Americans should "celebrate" when they stand up for "The Star Spangled Banner" is their nation and their freedom. Freedom bought at the cost of blood, and loss sometimes of fortune, honor, and life in order to establish and maintain justice and freedom. So Colin, do you even know what that means? I fear that many besides you do not! It does not mean you have to agree with a war or that you do not have a right to be upset, nay, even angry that sometimes there are people unfairly treated by others. That has happened too often through history. Humans can be cruel, stupid and very ugly acting. However, when you do what you are doing remember that:
1. You have that right because someone in the past fought for that right for you.
2. They fought and died for freedom and justice even though it is far from perfect.
3. We honor these freedoms the best by standing for them in a solid situation and not in an abstract one. We should decry them when injustices are existing in our government, taxes, laws, courts, criminal justice systems, and yes, sometimes with the police.
4. When you stand for justice and against evil then acknowledge the good and true in these places and people and praise them.
5. Now for those of you don't like what he is doing, please remember, that although he is doing it in a way you may not agree with, he has the right to do what he is doing! We have a right to peaceably assemble according to the First Amendment and he is being peaceable! I hope he realizes that his right to do this protest is protected by that Amendment.
Colin has not betrayed his country but he is doing and approaching it in the wrong way in my humble opinion. There are better and other ways including standing up for those who have been murdered wrongly and those whose rights are being violated by our government; race, age, gender and faith should not matter!
All of you that support this movement of Colin's please do so for the right reasons and remember this,
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY SAID, “HE REMEMBERED WHAT GEORGE WASHINGTON HAD SAID --- HE SAID, “THE THING THAT SETS THE AMERICAN CHRISTIAN APART FROM ALL OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD IS HE WILL DIE ON HIS FEET BEFORE HE’LL LIVE ON HIS KNEES.”
So Mr. Kapernick, it seems you would rather live on your knees then die standing. For me, that says a lot about you!
1. You have that right because someone in the past fought for that right for you.
2. They fought and died for freedom and justice even though it is far from perfect.
3. We honor these freedoms the best by standing for them in a solid situation and not in an abstract one. We should decry them when injustices are existing in our government, taxes, laws, courts, criminal justice systems, and yes, sometimes with the police.
4. When you stand for justice and against evil then acknowledge the good and true in these places and people and praise them.
5. Now for those of you don't like what he is doing, please remember, that although he is doing it in a way you may not agree with, he has the right to do what he is doing! We have a right to peaceably assemble according to the First Amendment and he is being peaceable! I hope he realizes that his right to do this protest is protected by that Amendment.
Colin has not betrayed his country but he is doing and approaching it in the wrong way in my humble opinion. There are better and other ways including standing up for those who have been murdered wrongly and those whose rights are being violated by our government; race, age, gender and faith should not matter!
All of you that support this movement of Colin's please do so for the right reasons and remember this,
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY SAID, “HE REMEMBERED WHAT GEORGE WASHINGTON HAD SAID --- HE SAID, “THE THING THAT SETS THE AMERICAN CHRISTIAN APART FROM ALL OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD IS HE WILL DIE ON HIS FEET BEFORE HE’LL LIVE ON HIS KNEES.”
So Mr. Kapernick, it seems you would rather live on your knees then die standing. For me, that says a lot about you!
,
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what%20does%20flags%20stand%20for,
http://www.worldflags101.com/other-flags/white-flag.aspx,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-and-the-danger-of-false-flags-when-governments-apply-the-old-schoolyard-bully-trick-he-hit-me-first/5395471,
http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/other-article-flags.html,
http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/football/article/Seahawks-link-arms-in-demonstration-of-unity-9216047.php,
http://ijr.com/2016/08/684228-national-anthem-verse-celebrating-slavery-being-used-to-justify-kaepernick-is-really-bad-defense/,
http://americanvision.org/13599/the-flag-the-bible-and-the-real-way-to-honor-the-righteous-fallen/,
http://daily.jstor.org/why-do-we-have-national-anthems/,
https://thehistoricpresent.com/2011/06/29/what-does-the-united-states-national-anthem-mean/,
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/08/12/nfl-denies-cowboys-request-to-wear-decal-honoring-fallen-dallas-officers.html,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers,
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=155640.0,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what%20does%20flags%20stand%20for,
http://www.worldflags101.com/other-flags/white-flag.aspx,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-and-the-danger-of-false-flags-when-governments-apply-the-old-schoolyard-bully-trick-he-hit-me-first/5395471,
http://chinese-school.netfirms.com/other-article-flags.html,
http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/football/article/Seahawks-link-arms-in-demonstration-of-unity-9216047.php,
http://ijr.com/2016/08/684228-national-anthem-verse-celebrating-slavery-being-used-to-justify-kaepernick-is-really-bad-defense/,
http://americanvision.org/13599/the-flag-the-bible-and-the-real-way-to-honor-the-righteous-fallen/,
http://daily.jstor.org/why-do-we-have-national-anthems/,
https://thehistoricpresent.com/2011/06/29/what-does-the-united-states-national-anthem-mean/,
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2016/08/12/nfl-denies-cowboys-request-to-wear-decal-honoring-fallen-dallas-officers.html,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers,
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=155640.0,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
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