Most of my early school days began with the playing of the National Anthem. When the music began, we were required to stand facing an American flag which hung near the blackboard. Our right hands were to be over our hearts. When the music finished, we were further required to recite a pledge of allegiance. It went like this: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
I didn't know what any of the key words like "pledge" or "allegiance" meant. All I knew was that if I didn't do these things, the school adults would make my life unpleasant. Why? I didn't know then. I don't know now, but recently, a furor arose when some NFL players chose to kneel while the anthem played. What do I think about that?
Though I am a Vietnam-era veteran, I do not think first of the military when I hear the anthem and/or see the flag. I think of that pledge of allegiance: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands..." In other words, the flag is a symbol, a symbol of the government as it exists, and has existed.
The pledge ends: "with liberty and justice for all." The last line of each stanza of the lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner" reads: "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." The land of the free? When Francis Scott Key wrote that line in 1814 millions of African-Americans were held as slaves, treated as property by their "owners" who could beat, maim or even kill them. Land of the free? With liberty and justice for all?
Today in 2017 American citizens have only as much freedom/liberty as they can buy. Republicans continue to pass laws to discourage or keep African-Americans from voting. They gerrymander voting districts to dilute the African-American vote. Police officers shoot African-American men in the streets, in the back while they are running away or standing with their hands up. When prosecuted for these crimes the perpetrators are rarely convicted. An adequate defense appears to be: I feared for my life because he was breathing while black. Is it any wonder that the first NFL player to "take a knee" was a black man?
I will never pledge allegiance to any government or one of its representatives. I will only pledge allegiance to a society that truly maintains liberty and justice for all. Rather than vilify Colin Kaepernick, shouldn't we all "take a knee" with him?