Standing for Our Flag and Anthem – What That Really Means

By Wayne Stewart

Late last week President Donald Trump created a minor conflagration when he castigated professional football players for kneeling during the National Anthem before the start of National Football League games.

The president used coarse language to make his point and did not appear presidential in doing so, but he struck a chord with many across the country, while at the same time the NFL felt itself under attack from the highest office in the land and stood in solidarity against the president’s comments.

The controversy began last year when Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, chose not to stand during the playing of the National Anthem as a means of protest of the treatment of African Americans at the hands of police officers. These days Kaepernick finds himself unemployed, some say because of his political stance while others claim it’s because he’s not a very good quarterback.

Whatever the case may be, the sycophant media attached itself to the story and suddenly a player whose play of late could best be described as mediocre gained fame to some, and notoriety to others, for actions not associated with football. His means of protest spread across the league until the president felt compelled to weigh in on the subject.

The president, despite the stature of the office, has the right to make the statement he did concerning the football players, just as the football players have the right to make their opinion known concerning the treatment of African Americans in this nation, but there is something both sides have missed in all of this.

The National Anthem is a song, written by Francis Scott Key, while witnessing a naval bombardment during the War of 1812, and in airy tones, Mr. Key paid homage to the “land of the free, and home of the brave.” Eventually Congress made the song our National Anthem. It’s been a staple at baseball games for years and has become a pre-game centerpiece in the NFL over the past couple of decades.

What the protesters may not understand, the National Anthem, and the flag that inspired its words, are not representative of the U.S. government; the National Anthem and the flag do not represent police officers, or members of the U.S. Armed Forces; it definitely does not represent politicians, including the president, and the litany of problems this nation faces.

The flag and the National Anthem are symbols of the ideals on which this nation was founded. The flag represents the words of Thomas Jefferson when he penned the Declaration of Independence noting, “We hold these truths to be self-evident – that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The thing is, the founders went about their own form of protest against a tyrannical government, those words of Jefferson are the words of protest; those words represented a death sentence if their cause failed.

Fast forward 240 years, to a multi-billion-dollar business replete with scores of millionaire athletes failing to recognize the meaning of the flag and the song celebrating the ideals of a nation. If the millionaire athletes desire to spark a protest, why don’t they take a page from the founders and put their fortune on the line. Every man who signed the Declaration of Independence signed his own death warrant if the war with England did not end in victory.

If these men desire to change the discourse of the nation, then let them put their fortunes into fostering dialogue between the African American community and law enforcement. Let them help cities set a higher standard for choosing officers; let them put their lives on the line to be the liaison a particular community needs in order to deal peacefully with the rest of society. Let their so-called zeal lead them to not just make token contributions for a tax write off, but lead them to empty themselves through sacrificial giving for the cause they claim is so important to them.

These athletes have been blessed with God-given physical abilities and are rewarded handsomely for their work. They’ve also been given a very public forum to discuss the issues that concern them, their families and their communities; there is a time and place to let their voice be heard, and the beginning of a football game may not be the most effective means of voicing their concerns.

The president’s words and the NFL’s actions did nothing but create more acrimony between the two sides of this issue. There are many thoughtful football players the president’s invective offended, but there are many more Americans who served in the military, who lost loved ones, who vowed to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, who laid their lives on the line for what the flag and National Anthem represent. The coddled millionaires of the National Football League have laid nothing of value on the line in their fight to stop the perceived abuse of African Americans. When they are willing to do that, then America will listen.

This nation once laid claim to men of action, men of conscience, statesmen who were willing to inspire with their words and their deeds; there are still men and women like that in this nation today, may they rise and drag us from the gutter of our current discourse.