Kneeling, Traditionally, Is A Sign of Respect

… not only for yourself, but for Mother Earth, and the dawn of a new age. One of peace and equality, even in prayer.

It is, of course, also a protest, yes. A very civil protest, at that.

So why bash people who choose to express their freedoms? Why boot them from their job? Especially, after the atrocities of the not so distant past. Three hundred (300) years is a blink of an eye to most civilizations and survivors, but not to the oppressors and benefactors of American privilege.

From the incessant bullying wars, to the tragic middle passage, to the genocide of indigenous people — kneeling might be the best thing Americans can do when the anthem is played. It suits the reality of paying homage to the Earth, and atonement for the crude trespasses of time which America has, sadly, embarked on to found this nation.

For those who denigrate kneeling, and Kaepernick, your blind pride must outshine the number of embarrassing facts coming to light. From the crazy number of pedophilia sex slave rings, not only in the Catholic Church, but also on both sides of the American political parties, and of course — online and on American freeways; to the sad fact that our mega corporations, like Ford Motor Company and the Texas oil cartels financed parts of the Nazi regime, more and more research is showing how maniacal America has been.

Some people respond to this type of protest by insisting that soldiers died for the flag and the anthem. However, simply put, soldiers fought and sacrificed so Americans have the freedom to protest and stay vigilant against all forms of tyranny and fascism, abroad or at home. Most, will tell you the same.

In addition, soldiers weren’t the only ones who sacrificed for this reason. We should shine light on all the martyrs who were assassinated on the march to civil rights. Including, an amazing sitting President, John F. Kennedy, and his younger brother, Robert. They were two knights of a reform agenda against the mafia and war corruptions of their time. May they rest in peace. True patriots. True Americans.

Likewise, there are many other iconic liberal thinkers and peace activists who met doom at the hands of an ugly regime, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lennon. There are countless victims of this authoritarian regime from then, to even now, at places like Standing Rock.

Furthermore, to the heart of the matter, currently, there’re the 1000+ people per year (mostly and disproportionately, African American) who are gunned down by various gun slinging police officers. May they also rest in peace.

Those who are blind to the atrocities of the modern age are only laying ground for such hideous events to repeat themselves over and over again.

Not because they are optimistic or heroic, but rather, because they choose to ignore that which has forced many to a knee, even before now.

From Iran Contra, to Watergate, to Vietnam; from 9/11 to oil wars for a better bottom line; from democracy being sold out to big banks, big oil, agriculture, big pharma, and health care to war mongerers, these blind men and women continue to send America in the wrong direction by spending their time criticizing all forms of rightful protest. Especially, those taken up by people of diversity, and the darkest ancient brothers and sisters among us who’ve long been wronged. Here, we can cite the prison industrial complex and the colored legal system.

Protests signal to the elite power structure that enough is enough.

We can’t take any more unnecessary, large scale pollution, off shoring tax havens, and out sourcing jobs to slave labor. Protests signal to the elite that we no longer accept elections being stolen nor hijacked; we will not accept the continued dismantling of education, benevolent unions, and the price fixing of oil, gas, and energy against us — the tax payer. We will not accept the continued murders of inventors with breakthrough technologies, nor the character assassinations of whistleblowers, advanced journalists, nor intellectuals.

Currently, with over a hundred bases around the world, with over a thousand CIA operatives manipulating autonomous governments, and with military personnel exporting hectares of opium from a war torn Afghanistan, it’s unbelievable there are still blind patriots in these times. Especially, when doing so, only fuels the wrong fire: the fire of complicity in illegal and nefarious schemes.

Multiple pentagon leaders have told the American public openly that trillions of dollars have been secretly smuggled from federal budgets for missions unknown. Including, most effectively, Donald Rumsfeld boldly claiming two point three trillion dollars ($2,300,000,000) went missing the day before 9/11/2001. That’s almost half the annual federal budget for America, itself.

At some point, the common working class American “hero” must realize they’ve been hideously lied to and are NOT in control of their power structures. Rather, two different competing and collaborating shadow governments are. The shadow right and shadow left are in complete control of top level influence of the military, the political machine, the economy, main stream media, and the legislative system.

Why else would 67% (sixty-seven percent) of Americans have less than $1,000 (one thousand dollars) in their savings accounts? 39% (thirty-nine percent) have nothing. Add mortgage and loan debt to those numbers and they more than double. Sad, right?

Why else would America have 300+ (three hundred plus) mass shootings per year? And an inequality of wealth that rivals even the most corrupt third world nation?

When comparing America to the rest of the developed and liberal world, there is without a doubt, a need for civil protest in the form of taking a knee.

Anybody who doesn’t agree is just not reading, studying, or being fair to the circumstances. They must lack compassion and objectivity given how dire the situation has become, and how amazingly diabolical America has been to a peaceful and prosperous world, internal and external.

Rather, many should cheer the protestors of modern day because they stand eye to eye, in direct line of fire, against the intolerant, immoral, and corrupt system of the largest military empire this world has ever seen. They do this all for peace, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They do this because Christ, himself, would have done so. As he stood up to the Romans and corruptions of the church, so too, do these protestors, with public persecution and all.

Protestors are not dividing us. The naysayers are.

Listen to their arguments: they are mimicking what their predecessors said like automatons, down to the letter. Like parrots of archaic thoughts. They are not arguing based on reason or logic, they are ridiculing other people with ad hominem attacks based in ignorance.

We, together, can only be the United States of America. Separated, we are nothing but sheep being led to slaughter by an out of control system, dive bombing itself towards an abyss of atheism, debauchery, hedonism, bankruptcy, and a shameful cultural immaturity in the modern day.

Protestors, like Colin, are, instead, uniting the masses, sacrificing what little time and resources they have. With whatever little voice is left, they scream, “unite”. They sing of “peace and equality”. They reason out loud that “America can do better than this”. They are sending a clear and civil signal to the powers that be, to step aside, after so much atrocity, and for once, allow the people to lead as our constitution predicated.

President Abraham Lincoln, a true American hero, once said: “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”

Those who share things like this (see image below) should deny themselves the freedom of responding to any civil protest until they learn how to uphold the freedoms of their fellow citizens. Some of the most crucial ones are that of free speech and assembly. Hate speech is legally exempt from this right. But, that’ll be another discussion for another day.

The ones who lay in the weeds throwing darts at protestors have never marched alongside them, nor have they attended a community discussion, nor a town hall. The naysayers have not done their research. Nor have they learned to take a knee in group prayer, hand in hand, in unity, hoping for a better country which can live up to the creed fallen upon our generation to dust off, repair, and uplift. A creed which echoes in the halls of mankind, yet to be fulfilled, speaking of a castle atop a hill, enlightened by the flame of liberty, protected by the shield of blind justice. Our work is not even close to done.

Once we agree to this, then we will get off a knee to rise. Until then, civil protests make the most sense to save our own national karma.