The Star Spangled Controversy

     Welcome to the latest and greatest American debate of 2018 folks. With all of the turmoil currently going down in this country, which topic should we the people be up in arms about today? Well let's see, we have a nation more divided politically than I have ever seen in my lifetime, we are amongst some of the highest racial tensions this country has seen since the 1960's, with issues that extend far beyond (yet still encompassing) just the age old black and white, but are now involving illegal immigrants and whether or not they may seek refuge in this country, this in and of itself is one of the main reasons people hate our current president and have deemed him a bigot. We have cities like Chicago that by the month of September has already had 374 homicides. We are shedding the idea of only being a man or a woman, and ostracizing anyone who doesn't agree with that sentiment as an ignorant hate monger. We have a gun control debate so fierce that some Americans are preparing for a war for their weapons against the U.S. government. All of this is going on around us, it's crystal clear, these problems are pronounced and evident, the uproar is loud and it is present, but instead of trying to put some water on this dumpster fire that we are all living in, we are wasting our energy arguing about whether or not a shoe manufacturer did the right thing by supporting an athlete's decision to kneel during the national anthem. In case you haven't heard the saucy details of this groundbreaking story, then you better put on your seat belts and hold on as tight as you can, because this shit is heavy son.

     Here it goes, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49er’s Colin Kapernick (yeah the guy that knelt during the national anthem) made a commercial with Nike (yeah the shoes on your feet) and everybody lost their goddamn minds. OK, there's a little bit more to it than just that but let’s take a moment and break that previous sentence down shall we? A professional athlete who is in essence just a highly paid entertainer made a commercial with some people that make shoes, the people who make the shoes said "We agree with Kaepernick's decision to protest." And with those infamous words heard 'round the world some true patriots began to set their footwear ablaze, and somehow it seems the rest of the goddamn world has gone up in smoke too.


       Let's talk about August 26, 2016, The San Francisco  49er's were playing a pre-season game against the The Green Bay Packers, and as everyone else stood for the playing of The National Anthem, hands over their hearts and heads held high, Mr. Kaepernick remained seated. Obviously this drew some major attention to the quarterback, which was undeniably his goal, and after the game he was given a chance to explain his actions. He stated that he “did not want to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” That’s a powerful statement, but we’ll get more into that later. One of the main injustices that Mr. Kaepernick is protesting against is the number of black men, women, and children gunned down by police in this country. Kapernick along with many others believe these shootings to be purely racially biased. And if you’ve watched any major news outlet in the last five years, you’ve seen these stories come in droves, you’ve seen the riots against the police, and you’ve most likely developed your own stance on whether or not these shootings were executed purely on behalf of the color of the victims skin. Now no matter which end of that spectrum you find yourself on, that’s a topic that deserves to be dealt with, but that’s not where our focus lies, and that’s a huge fucking problem. We are now so focused on an American citizens peaceful protest (yes, I said it! It’s a peaceful protest) and whether or not he has the right to execute said protest. He absolutely fucking does have the right to remain seated seated during our National Anthem, (and a still hush falls over part of the room) it’s his Anthem too (whether he likes it or not) and he can choose to do whatever he pleases when it is being played. That’s one of his liberty’s in this great country, but the real question that has all of us in deferent cages frothing at the mouth and gnawing at the bars is, “Is his protest that of nobility, hatred, racism, or ignorance?”

     If you ask me, it is a protest of ignorance (another still hush falls over the other half of the room) from someone trying to be noble in their own eyes. I say ignorance because the Star Spangled Banner was not written to represent the country that Mr. Kapernick and all the others who kneel during it’s playing are protesting, it was written to honor the spirit and valor of the men who died protecting that very banner and the very goddamn liberties that they are using on a very public platform. Some don’t know this but there are 3 other verses to our National Anthem that we do not sing at the beginning of our sporting events, and if you’d oblige me I’d like to share them with you.

    “ On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream, 'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!  And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd  out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.  O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation! Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"  And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

    Those words are the memories of a man who watched the carnage of war unfold before his very eyes, and through insurmountable odds and vicious bloodshed, he witnessed hope and victory emerge through the hearts of men that believed in freedom. When Francis Scott Key saw that the flag was still there, meaning that the men fighting for the freedoms that the flag does represent never gave way to defeat. Francis Scott Key didn’t write that song for it to become the National Anthem of the United States, he wrote it for the warriors, the ones that walked away and the ones that didn’t. So when I hear Mr. Kapernick say that he doesn’t want to stand for a song about those who gave him his freedoms, I’d honestly like to tell him to eat shit, but I cannot be a hypocrite and try to strip him of the same liberties and freedoms that I’m exercising to write this very article. Instead, I ask of him and anyone else who kneels during that song to remember the true meaning, and that in the future we strive to become activists of real change for the real problems we have in this country, instead of the agendas of entertainers, pop culture journalists, politicians, and fashion moguls. I encourage everyone to challenge and question everything, and if throughout that endeavor you find injustice in this country then by all means do what you  can to make a change, just for the love of God, articulate yourselves so you don’t become just another bandwagon revolutionary.

     

“I’m strapped up, fuck a gun law
See me walking with a limp, that’s my gun walk, I don’t do no arguing, I let the guns talk
I’m strapped up, fuck a gun law” - Lil Wayne 2013.



   In the midst of another tragic shooting, we find ourselves still stuck in the revolving door that is the gun control debate. Tragedy after tragedy, lives upon lives lost, years wasted, and we are still making no head way in finding a solution. I believe that’s because we are seeking regulations to control evil, instead of rebuilding what we let the evil destroy in our society. We need societal reform, not gun reform.

    Read the song lyrics above one more time. Now before you jump down my throat for using Lil Wayne as a reputable source in my argument regarding gun control, hear me out. The lyrics are explicit about his ability to have a firearm, and using it to commit murder, with or without fear of a new or existing law. In other words, “Fuck a gun law.” This is from a man, who has made his livelihood by capitalizing on romancing the criminal lifestyle. Don’t get me twisted now, I’m not knocking Lil Wayne or hip hop, I’m definitely not on the “Gangster Rap made them do it” side of the fence, people make their own paths in life. I’m just using what most might see as an unnoticed lyric, from an overlooked rap song, as a surprisingly prolific yet backhanded proof that more laws are not what we need. Laws are set in place to be a warning to those abiding by them, for fear of the consequences of breaking them. But if you don’t fear the consequence, then there’s no need to play by the rules. To elaborate, criminals don’t care about regulations, “Fuck a gun law.”

   I’m sickened by the idea of children being gunned down in schools. I’m disgusted at the thought of some hate fueled animal murdering people who are just trying to have a good time in a night club. I remember my mother crying when the students of Columbine had been killed. I understand and acknowledge that we have a problem, and I’m an advocate for change. However, I’ll say it again, the change we need is societal reform, that’s the kind of change that can fix senseless violence. We live in a time of evident depravity, yet we are still surprised by acts of blatant disregard for human life. And when lives are taken we blame the medium that the killer used, not the killer. That’s illogical. I believe that’s because as a society, and as a culture we are afraid to get introspective, for fear of what we might find. If we look inside ourselves, and examine how we operate, we would find some shit that definitely needs work. For example we treat mental illness with numbing drugs, as if to just sweep the problem under the rug. Out of sight, out of mind, that’s the motto. If we don’t have to see it then there’s nothing to deal with. That is until that patient has a mental breakdown, the drugs stop working, and they make an irrational decision because the chemicals in their brain are so far imbalanced they’ve lost touch. We don’t discipline our children when they talk back and disrespect us, for fear of hurting their feelings. Then they learn that they can speak to and treat people however they want, without regard for the implications their words and behaviors might have on their peers, their inferiors, or their elders. We don’t value or teach respect anymore, but dammit we still want it.

    I know that if you made it this far, this has been a long winded interruption from looking at memes, and I thank you for reading this. I just implore you to look away from the arguments for gun control that the media is pushing, and think of a way we can better ourselves, so that we may stop putting each other in the ground. More laws won’t work, we’ve tried that before (the war on drugs, prohibition, etc.) and it failed. Evil cannot be controlled or destroyed entirely, but by brute and unrelenting force, and hearts that beat with ferocity to watch out and provide care for your fellow man, evil sure as hell can be terrified to rear it’s ugly head, anywhere near those brave enough to beat it down.