When Kneeling is Standing

Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to suggest that we shouldn't "stand as one nation under God regardless". Again, my apologies if I sounded like I was! I intend to keep standing for the flag and national anthem as well, and for the same reasons. But now more than ever we need to remember that there's a helluva lot more to them than a red, white, and blue piece of cloth and some inspiring words. In times like these, if we're to stand for them as one nation under God we damn well better be clear about what such a nation looks like in His eyes—not ours, the Republican or Democratic parties’, our government's, or anyone else’s—and see to it that the example we set for the world with our words, behaviors, and votes doesn’t cheapen it. By my lights, at a bare minimum that means;

• Remembering that in such a nation liberty and justice belong to EVERYONE, not just white Christian men like me.
• Not taking offense from a safe distance when people of color choose to kneel peacefully before their nation's anthem, not out of "disrespect" for its armed forces, but because that nation has become one where neither they, nor their unarmed law-abiding families have any right whatsoever to expect liberty or justice when they're at barrel's end of its armed law enforcement officers.
• Not standing in solidarity with a leader who thinks torch and club-wielding neo-Nazis are "some very fine people" and said people of color on their knees are "sons of bitches"—any more than Bonhoeffer was willing to stand with the "very fine people" who hung him from a meat hook with piano wire.
• Having as much respect and concern for the First Amendment rights of people of color to kneel in peaceful protest, as I do for those of the torch and club-wielding neo-Nazis who want they and their families lynched.

I can't speak for anyone else, but as far as I'm concerned anything less would disgrace a nation under God, its flag and national anthem... and the fallen soldier in the meme above.

References

Bonhoefferblog. (2009). More on the Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoefferblog, Dec. 19, 2009. Online at bonhoefferblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/more-on-the-execution-of-dietrich-bonhoeffer/. Accessed Sept. 28, 2017.

Griffiths, B.D. & H.C. Jackson. (2017). "Trump sparks war with NFL – and LeBron". Politico. Online at www.politico.com/story/2017/09/22/trump-nfl-protests-football-243046. Accessed Sept. 28, 2017.

Lowery, W. (2016). Aren’t more white people than black people killed by police? Yes, but no. Washington Post, July 11, 2016. Online at www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/. Accessed Sept. 28, 2017.