21-year veteran here. I just retired from the Army last month. So for those of you who want to claim that Colin Kaepernick’s protest is about “disrespecting” us, let me help you out.
It’s not.
Period.
If you are not serving or have not served, you don’t get to tell me what’s “offensive” to me or my fellow service members and what isn’t.
End of story.
Oh, but let me guess…your “friends” and “relatives” who have served; you can speak for them or have claimed that they too have expressed how displeased they are?
Or “every veteran you know”?
Yep…I’ve heard that one too.
It’s like this:
First off, in the beginning, hardly anyone even noticed Kaepernick kneeling and you know why? Because during the National Anthem, people are everywhere and doing everything.
Nobody stands at home. Don’t even amuse me by claiming you stand for the anthem at the house. Some have tried. But we all know better.
I’ve been to MANY games and let me tell you; not everyone stands at the stadium. A good amount of people are at the concession stands. Why?
Because they know they aren’t there for the anthem.
Even the ones who are not buying snacks and in the stands, guess what? A good amount are messing with phones, talking and doing everything else. And I don’t mean young people, either. 30’s, 40’s, 50’s…just about every age group.
And that includes a good many of you reading this now.
The next thing I know, all of a sudden, people are “outraged” once finding out that Kaepernick began kneeling. Yep…all these “MURICA” folks, and you’re mad that someone is doing what? Exercising his right to Freedom of Speech?
First, it went like this:
You claimed to be mad because his protest “disrespected veterans.”
(then you learned that VETERAN Nate Boyer was the one who suggested he kneel)
You claimed that he “disrespected the flag and America.”
(we didn’t buy it)
You went back to the whole “disrespecting veterans” thing.
(veterans, like me, came out to say this was NOT disrespectful to us)
People began to claim they served and that they were offended.
(Then folks were caught in that lie too. Yes…people claimed to serve just to express “outrage,” but were tripped up once folks like me began to dig)
Now, you throw a relative under the bus, claiming they served and are offended.
(I caught some folks in this lie too. Recently, a person I went to school with, who told me back then that I was the first person they knew who would be in the Army, told me recently that not one, but TWO relatives were in Vietnam as Army soldiers)
That’s when you resort to “EVERYONE I KNOW WHO IS A VETERAN IS OFFENDED!”
(Please. I stood in each morning formation with more folks than “everyone you know.” Yes…I suppose you figured that if you just make a random declaration that “all” or “most” people you know, that would “win” the argument. But what civilians don’t realize is that veterans QUICKLY encounter more people in the course of a day than all the ones you claim to “know”)
That’s when you resorted to just calling him names, insulting him as a football player, attacking him personally, etc.
(“Adults” are doing this. Supposedly grown people, and tantrums including name-calling because you disagree with someone. The epitome of maturity)
You get the idea.
For the record, either I, or fellow veterans have experienced these.
And this is all over what, again?
A person exercising his First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech?
Eventually, Fox News and Donald Trump had to chime in with this same nonsense. Since many worship them, that only encouraged the above behavior to continue.
This has nothing to do with veterans, the flag, or America. At all.
A black man isn’t just “sitting down and shutting up.”
THAT is what has you so pissed off.
As a soldier, our Oath of Enlistment is as follows:
“I, ______________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
This is what we raise our right hands to say when we first enlist and each time we re-enlist, meaning when our temporary enlistments are set to expire soon and we choose to “renew,” so-to-speak. Pay close attention to the first sentence.
THAT is why we serve. So for you civilians out there, stop telling us why we do it. We already know. It is TO SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
The Constitution includes Freedom of Speech, correct?
I know, I know:
“HE HAS A RIGHT TO PROTEST, JUST LIKE I HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL HIM AN ASSHOLE FOR DOING SO!!!”
Both these are allowed by the Constitution. True. However, one is a crybaby tantrum and the other is…well, what Kaepernick did.
I don’t care about the crime rate in Chicago. I don’t care about “black-on-black crime” everywhere else. This isn’t about all that. If those issues truly mean something to you (we know they don’t, but if you’re going to pretend when arguing with us, let me help you out), then address those alone. Not as a way to “clap back.”
Because it’s weak.
Donald Trump spends more time tweeting like a 12-year-old girl than actually doing his job as president. And that is no exaggeration. That’s exactly how his tweets read…as if a 12-year-old girl wrote them. Among the tweets were direct attacks against Kaepernick, other players who would kneel and the NFL themselves. Not just to say that he “doesn’t agree” with them and to encourage them to exercise their right to protest. But he called them “sons of bitches” and suggested they be fired.
Wait a minute…remember that whole “Constitution” thing? Freedom of Speech means freedom from persecution from the government. The President is part of the government last time I checked. So why in the hell the POTUS suggesting that players get fired for exercising a Constitutional right?
“BUT WE AREN’T ALLOWED TO PROTEST AT WORK, EITHER…” Save it. If the NFL and individual teams took action, that is a different story. But encouraging players to be fired should NEVER come out of the president’s mouth. Period. That isn’t up for discussion.
“HE SHOULD PROTEST ON HIS OWN TIME.” No. Perhaps you need to study that Constitution that you claim to support, once more. There is nothing in the Constitution that limits when someone can protest, as long as it is done legally. And the point of a protest isn’t when it’s comfortable for those who don’t want him participating. That would be like me saying you can’t go to McDonald’s because I don’t like their food. Nobody asked you when they should protest. A lot of you are still confused about that one.
Kaepernick had shed light on a very important issue in our society. But Donald Trump and Fox News are so concerned with keep ahold of your puppet strings that you will just continue to stay mad for as long as they tell you to.
Enter Nike.
Nike recently made Kaepernick the face of their 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign. They commended him for his actions and in photos, they included the following phrase:
“BELIEVE IN SOMETHING…EVEN IF IT MEANS SACRIFICING EVERYTHING.”
Now, for starters, this was Nike’s idea, not Kaepernick’s. Colin hadn’t said a word. But as soon as Trump and Fox News began yapping, so did you. Now you are just as “angry” as in the beginning.
Or at least you pretend to be. And all of what I mentioned above continued.
Except this time, people so “maturely” decided to “boycott” Nike. That’s cute. People who likely don’t even have a ton of Nike gear or hell workout gear in general are boycotting. But not simply by not buying their items. No…people are burning their shoes and cutting the Nike logos off socks they are CURRENTLY WEARING.
Maybe you need to understand how a boycott works. The whole point is to NOT give Nike your money. Not destroy stuff you already paid for. Nike already has your money, geniuses. You think you’re making some kind of statement? Well you are…
…that you’re an idiot.
The fact that people are against Kaepernick mainly because of his race is nothing new. We already figured that one out. Trump and Fox News aren’t even clever about that anymore. It’s just funny to me how I will hear something from either of them, and the next thing I know, I see people repeating the same nonsense, to include many of you reading this right now.
I don’t need all your proclamations that this “has nothing to do with race” or for you to tell me how many black friends you have. The bottom line is simply this. He can protest whenever he wants. Nike’s sales have actually gone up. But Trump and Fox News are the blind leading the blind. This is why you haven’t heard a single player apologize for kneeling during the National Anthem.
Because they already know this.
And last I checked, this is NOT the 1950’s. You don’t get to tell black people what to do anymore.
By the way, would you believe that practice of NFL players standing for the National Anthem isn’t even 10 years old? That’s right. Back in 2009, the Department of Defense paid the NFL for their players to begin standing for the anthem prior to games. I know many of you did not know that, because your “outrage” wouldn’t make sense had you known for sure. I mean it doesn’t make sense now, but many of you act as though you thought this practice had always been around. It hasn’t.
Not researching this now, but I’m guessing neither Donald Trump, nor Fox News mentioned that. Of course they wouldn’t, because then it waters down the phony outrage. Again, what sense does it make to be this angry about something that is relatively new? And Kaepernick’s protest began in 2016, so that was only seven years after this started.
Just like Trump, Fox News isn’t about diversity of any kind.
The good thing is, no one asked.
Nike is just laughing at all the responses as well, as they continue to “Just Do It.”
And for those of you who are supposedly “boycotting” the NFL…
How did your teams do this week?
People's Court 
Great blog and so 💯
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Any way you word it It all still stands for justice until u can walk in our shoes u wouldn’t even begin to understand. Enough said.
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