Mr. Hamlin and StandAndPray

 No longer being a fan of football, I was unaware of the tragic event that occurred to Mr. Hamlin prior to posting my prior blog on StandAndPray 2023. What really caught my attention was how many football fans were suddenly motivated to pray in response to the tragedy. Would it not have been better to Stand And Pray during the playing of the national anthem to include a prayer for the safety and well being of all the players?  No, what we as humans do is pray after a negative event has happened.

Next Sunday football fans across the world will be likely asked to stand for a moment of silence in honor of Mr. Hamlin.  Some of you football fans might even take that opportunity to say a silent prayer.  But, then you will go right back into the human behavior where you remain standing with your hand over your heart , and your beer in your other hand to honor your nation during the playing of the national anthem.

Prayerfully, Mr. Hamlin will recover.  Prayerfully you will not be asked to stand at a future football game in memory of Mr. Hamlin.

So now I will ask you again.  Before your next football game or any sporting event, can you simply StandAndPray during the national anthem?

Create A Historic Super Bowl Moment

 One of the iconic human sports events is about to occur.  The Super Bowl.  As we close out another year of Covid Football Season (CFS), I humbly ask all fans paying $$$$ to attend the game to do one thing.  You don't have to buy anything to do it.  It is something you already are asked to do at a football game.

I ask you that during the invitation/command to stand for the national anthem, that you instead "Stand and Pray".  Even if you don't attend church, or normally pray, on this occasion please "Stand and Pray".

Why?  To acknowledge that human kind did not create the Earth.  Humanity did not create the sun.  Human beings did not create the air and water we consume daily.  Pray for all the things we take for granted every day.  Pray for your family.  Pray for those suffering.  Pray for the homeless and poor.  Pray for all the families impacted by Covid. In the one minute and fifty-five seconds that it takes on average to sing the national anthem, "Stand and Pray".

Stand in the stadium.  Stand in whatever venue you are at to watch the game.  It would be a historic moment if the person chosen to sing/play the anthem simply just let the melody of the anthem play in the background as they themselves simply "Stand and Pray".

After you "Stand and Pray", enjoy the game.

Sports Fiasco - Robert Kraft/Anthony Davis

New England Patriots owner Kraft caught in a human trafficking sting.  NBA player Anthony Davis playing 20 minutes a game as the NBA condones his team pretty much throwing games. 

A player for the Kansas City Chiefs, a running back, lost his job based on a video that showed him pushing around a female.  The violence displayed against a woman and the NFL's no tolerance rule was the reason for his dismissal from the team.  That player recently received an offer from a team to hire him back for one year.

With that in mind, what should happen to Kraft for supporting human trafficking through his actions?  Should he be suspended for a year or more until he does some form of restitution?  He surely can't continue to be the owner of an NFL team?  Is supporting human trafficking not as evil as violently pushing a woman around?  We will see what type of punishment the commissioner of the NFL gives the owner.

Next up.  The New Orleans Pelicans in what they claim is an attempt to protect their "property", Anthony Davis, only play him approximately 20-25 minutes a game, regardless if playing him longer would give them a chance to win a game.  This is telling fans, "yeah, we know you paid $140 for a ticket to a game with the hope of seeing him play the whole game.  But forget about it!"  Anthony is our property, our slave, and we need to ensure he is in prime condition when he goes on the slave market after the season!

I thought about going to see Davis play when his team came to town. But, then I thought, why spend $130 plus to see somebody play a restricted game of 20 minutes or less?  Is the NBA stupid or what?  What is the NBA commissioner thinking?  The NBA just instituted rules to govern the "resting" of players that teams were doing, depriving again fans of seeing star players when they came to town.  Now the NBA condones teams behaving like slave masters and keeping property under control?

Fans!  Be smart and don't just throw your money at the NBA.  If teams hold back players, just watch the game on TV.  Don't spend your money on NBA tickets.  Go out and have a nice dinner.  $130 can buy a family of 3 to 4 a good meal.  Even better, it will buy a nice meal for two people paying $130 a ticket!

Sports often time reflects society.  In the case of Kraft and Davis, it is showing how hypocritical sports can be.  Let your opinion speak with how you spend your money in supporting these sports.  If they don't give you what you expect, give them nothing.

The National Football League and the "flag" controversy

Jerry Jones and son, team vice president Steven Jones, have made themselves clear.  Players are expected to put aside their feelings regarding police brutality, social injustice and racial equality.  When they come to “work” to entertain football fans and television viewers, all players are expected to put their feelings in a box in the locker room and come out to the field as if “all is well” in the real world. The youngster Ezekiel Elliott and his views on standing in unity just underscore that many of the new generation of black people have no real understanding of the journey of black people in this country.  It's a fact and it's a shame.

The history of standing for the anthem dates back to traditions established for military personnel before the year 1900.  Over the years the tradition/ritual has cascaded down to the general public at sporting events.  The fact is there is no need to play the anthem at sporting events.  It was pushed upon us quietly and now has become a ritual that we blindly just follow.  Playing the anthem has now evolved through a careful campaign as being a way to show support for the nation and has been construed now as support for veterans, especially those who have given their lives.  Of course when someone ties in support for deceased veterans it becomes an emotional issue.  Who would dare disrespect a military veteran who died “for the country”?  It was a brilliant move to relate standing for the national anthem with support for those who died in military conflicts. 

So instead of playing the national anthem why isn’t there some type of common prayer done before sporting events?  Or a moment of silence where people can contemplate emotional issues?  Maybe someone wants to reflect on the impact of cancer on their loved ones.  The impact of the opioid crisis.  A time for reflection and quiet prayer by parents and students that they will not be impacted by school shootings.  Time for black people to reflect on how ancestors were killed in race riots and no one held accountable for the murders.  Time to ensure your Native American costume is in order so you can make ridicule of a culture annihilated by your ancestors.

We could reflect on and do so much in those minutes that are now used to continue a tradition we follow as if we are all Nazis in the Germany of Adolph Hitler.  Stand, put your hand over your heart, take off your hat, and sing dammit!  40,000 plus captive robots.

Me.  At basketball and baseball games I just stand silently and think of how in these United States of America Black people were; kept in slavery for hundreds of years; families not allowed to follow natural patterns of growth; men, women, and children lynched; people denied equal treatment based solely on the color of their skin and perpetuated stereotypes; and of how there is little concern when unarmed black people are killed by the armed police?

Jerry and Steven Jones say forget all about that!  Players, put your toe on the line and let’s play this game!  It’s all about control.  What I can make you do by constructing rules, traditions and rituals.

I’ve stopped watching NFL football and purchasing any items sponsored by the NFL.  I’ll try to ensure I find out what companies are sponsoring the NFL and stop feeding my money to those companies.

There are different types of slavery.  Mindless slavery to rituals and traditions is just one form.

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize

There was a documentary on the PBS network in 1987 titled "Eyes On the Prize". It was about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.  The content of the documentary is still applicable to events occurring today.  It's still available and those of you 35 years and younger should definitely watch it.

Recently politicians, owners of professional football teams, and others have attempted to change the issue of black people being killed by police into an issue over protests during the national anthem.  It is a well crafted attempt to deflect attention from the real issue of black men being murdered by police, just because the police allegedly "feared for their lives".  This fear was even being justified by the police when the person they "feared" was unarmed.  That is the reason for the protests.  It's not about the flag it's about having discussions and then efforts to stop the "MBP" Murder By Police.  Videos have been shown in the past years documenting the murder of numerous black men by police officers.  No mass nationwide call for re training of police has occurred.  The city of Indianapolis has talked about starting Implicit Bias Training of policeman.  Otherwise apparently it's business as usual for the majority of police departments in the United States.

It is very cunning to attempt to cover up the real issues under the umbrella of "patriotism", respect for the military, and "respect those who have lost lives in Wars".  No one is attempting to disrespect veterans, so stop the lie that the protestors are purposefully disrespecting those who have lost their lives in past wars.  The attempts to cover up the issues with patriotism and the symbolic playing of the national anthem shows that those who condemn the protest really could care less about the lives of black people impacted by MBP.  Thank you for your honesty regarding your feelings towards black people.  I would rather you go further and just come out and say "you could care less about a policeman killing a black person" rather than hiding behind a flag and a national anthem as you are doing now.

You are artfully attempting to get our eyes off the prize.  You want to have the real issue ignored.  Just know that we will not let the real issue be ignored.  We will continue to protest, march, speak out and take action regarding the real issue.  We will put a stop to the practice of police killing us because they can hide behind the "fear" card. 

It is amazing to see how the patriots and anthem lovers never acknowledge that enslavement of black people, lynching of black people, racism against black people, MBP and other atrocities against black people really occurred in this country.  Playing a national anthem before sporting events and having people stand for a symbolic flag does not wipe out the past or change the present. Fix the issue that is causing the protests.

Beneath the Flag and the National Anthem – Symbols, traditions, and human made laws.

What do the national anthem, the flag, and the pledge of allegiance mean to me as a 60 year old black man?  In these United States, they are all symbolic creations aimed at demanding blind loyalty and devotion to the beliefs and values of European Americans. That devotion is demanded regardless of what atrocities have occurred in this country against black people. European American institutions attempt to impose these symbols upon us to define who has authority over us.  The symbols start in the school system at an early age.  These symbols and customs have found their ways into our sports entertainment. The NBA, a league where over 74% of the players are black, created specific rules to dictate how players must behave when the national anthem is played.  The motive for the creation of these rules apparently is to ensure the majority of the fans who actually attend the games, those being European Americans, are not offended by protesting black athletes.

I have no reason to be blindly devoted to a country that supported the kidnapping of my descendants from Africa to perform hard labor for European Americans.  I have no reason to be blindly supportive of a country that still to this day fails to acknowledge how it carried out the annihilation of the Native American people who were originally here.

For dialogue purposes I would like my fellow European Americans out there to answer these questions:

1.     Why should current day black descendants of enslaved people stand to honor a country where a black man can be murdered without cause by the police?

2.     Why should a black person pay respect to a country that allowed the lynching of black people and continues to allow discriminatory practices solely based on the color of a person’s skin?

3.     Do you acknowledge that your majority status in this country is based on the total obliteration of Native Americans by European Americans via illegal appropriation of their land and resources?

For me that is the starting point of any discussion on race and the protests against the flag and or the national anthem.

Does the national anthem need to be played at sporting events or any public event?  No it does not.  Sports are supposed to be a distraction from our everyday lives.  We go to watch athletes play a game that provides us entertainment.  The introduction of flag waving and national anthem playing is not why people pay to attend events. If you see someone not standing when the national anthem is playing or refusing to face the flag, understand that they have a reason for doing so.  You do not have to accept their reason, only respect it.

If military institutions want to play the anthem at military events, feel free to do so.  But stop using us non soldiers to visually show support for a country by making us stand at any event you feel demands a support of loyalty.  If democracy is about freedom then give us that freedom and do not impose loyalty tests on us at various social/entertainment events.

The issue of people protesting against the playing of the national anthem or protesting the flag of the United States of America is not a new event. In 1916 the President of the United States and then in 1931 the US Congress authorized the “Star Spangled Banner” as the official national anthem of the United States of America.  Only the first verse is traditionally sung. 

In 1892, the pledge of allegiance, which we all may have recited in elementary school, was written. It was modified in 1923, and 1954 to add specific reference to the flag of the United States and reference to God.  Prior to World War II, students in school would salute while reciting the pledge in a manner that was very similar to the German Nazi salute in World War II.  So the “Nazi” salute was replaced with a hand over the heart stance.  Actor Louis Gossett shared the story of how he would recite the pledge in school but instead of reciting the line “…for which it stands..” he would say “.. for Richard Stands…” not knowing what he was really saying!

Protests against the national anthem are documented well back into the 1900s. The reasons were many.  Anti nationalism, anti war, civil rights, even a protest against spending money on building a sports stadium rather than for a drug treatment program.  The protests were by people of various races and beliefs.

As a black man I understand fully why Colin Kaepernick said enough is enough and no longer robotically stood during the playing of the national anthem.  It was a time when month after month a black man was being killed by police. European Americans need to put themselves in our position.  How would you like it if you were systematically stopped for no real reason other than your skin color?  Would you stand for a system where the police are not trained to deal with their biases and not taught how to diffuse a situation to avoid killing someone?

Being “patriotic” always seems appropriate especially after such events as 9/11.   Patriotism that turns into blind loyalty is dangerous.  Blind loyalty fails to see the truth.  As a 60 year old black man, I recall the events of the 1960s and the civil rights era.  I still firmly believe that the protest at the 1968 Olympics by Tommie Smith and John Carlos was a courageous action.  Many people died during and before the civil rights years of the 1960s.  They died in pursuit of having the same rights as European Americans in this “land of the free”.  They spoke up against and protested against racial discrimination.  Unfortunately some of the civil rights struggles that existed in the 1960s continue today.  That is why people like Colin Kaepernick take a stand.  That is why a black man like myself does not feel obliged to stand and place my hand over my heart as the national anthem is played.