What is the controversy surrounding #takeaknee

[henryp]

People like all my family and friends (most EMS and Military) are saying the flag itself is being disrespected and getting all hot and bothered over that. I've tried explaining that the national anthem is racist in itself but they scoff at me. I have also tried to explain the kneeling thing but they don't want to hear that either. You are correct in that we wear and disrespect the flag everyday but they take no notice of that.

It's just narrowmindedness.  "This is how I see things, and I will project that onto everyone else."

This notion that we are all Americans is somehow unifying is bullshit.  We share a geographical closeness, but we might as well be living on different planets.  The country is too big and too diverse for it to matter.  How we experience America is so varied, it seems foolish we're all calling it the same thing.

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I've tried explaining that the national anthem is racist in itself but they scoff at me. 
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 To say it's the flag or the anthem is deflecting the original purpose/motivation. 

He literally called out the flag and the country.  And he was 100% right to.  Why are people trying to change what he said?  The flag represents America.  America is shit to black people.  So fuck America, and by the transitive property fuck the flag.  Do you not agree with that sentiment?  


“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,”  “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”