I try to stay away from political issues as much as I can – so, this is not about that. It is about ignorance. As I said, I try to stay away from political issues and I do not even like football or any other spectator sports. Anyway, I made the mistake of responding to a Facebook post of a misguided person. She happens to be the wife of my best friend and it hurt me to see her reaction to the kneeling issue. Sadly, I should have thought about it before reacting. I mean, this is a person who has voted for Trump and is supporting him constantly. The main issue with Trump supporters is that when you make a valid point, like the “no hand on heart” issue they will immediately tell you that it is a lie – the media photoshop-ed it. Makes me wonder how the media photoshop-ed the fact that he does not pay taxes (why else would he keep the returns secret?) or that he has bankrupted six of his corporations while coming out unscathed. Trump comes across as a buffoon and a pretty ignorant one at that but it is all just smoke and mirrors. While he is making ridiculous statements and acting like a clown, behind the scenes, his buddies in the GOP are taking away some of our hard earned liberties. Anyway, let me part with the politics and try to teach some people a bit of history.
1776 – The USA became an independent country however:
- White men with property have the right to vote, but Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and others are barred from voting (all others obviously included black slaves – after all they were just property. So were the women, I guess).
1814 – Francis Scott Key writes the “Star Spangled Banner”.
I am trying to be brief so I will skip some other important milestones. Let me just ask this question: “In light of the previous two points, does it seem right to demand that black people stand during the playing of an anthem that was written by a white man for white people while blacks were slaves?”. Strangely enough, a lot of black people served in the military and some even gave their lives for our country, even in those days when segregation was rampant. Even stranger is the fact that a lot of people (including my misguided wife) do not understand the point of this kneeling protest. It is not about slavery! It is not about segregation! It is not some black people protesting the past! It is some people protesting the present and attempting to build a better future. As much as some of us admire the Constitution of the United States, we also realize that it is a flawed document and that amendments are sometimes necessary. The ERA amendment was first introduced in 1923 and guess what – it is 94 years later and it has yet to be ratified. Florida is one of the states opposed to it, as well as the home state of that person I am talking about. On the same page that I am grieving about there is also a comment about Puerto Rico. Something like “Why is it always the US that has to help everybody in the world. Where are all the other countries.?”. One clever responder actually blamed it on the media again: “They are there but the media does not want us to know”. I can’t believe I got into a political debate with someone who does not know that Puerto-Rican people are United States citizens.
Why do I even bother? Well she is the wife of my best friend even though she is an ignorant liar. I wish I could make her see the truth.