(08-24-2017 06:33 AM)bearcatmark Wrote: We have a young black man in the NFL who can't get a job in his chosen profession where he is undoubtedly qualified, because people are outraged about him disrespecting the united states by taking a knee in nonviolent protest during the national anthem. We have the same people that are outraged about his disrespecting the country adamantly defending having monuments to traitors that fought against the United States on public property. Whatever else they did in their life, Lee and Davis and many of the other Confederates honored on public ground fought against the United States on the side of slavery. It's no surprise these statutes went up disproportionately during the civil rights era and Jim Crow period. These largely weren't monuments to history, they were a statement from white America to Black America.
So now we have people defending traitors to the united states who fought against the United States on the side of slavery, for the right to own black men and women and have them returned to them should they escape and defending the NAZIs who walk to make sure they are honored on public grounds... and those same people acting like a young black man engaged in nonviolent protest is something terrible and disrespectful to America. People then wonder why so many of our African American brothers and sisters are convinced of the discrimination they face day after day.
First off...this assumes that Kapernik's inability to land a job in the NFL is due solely to his protest. Not so fast....prior to the "protest season" he was benched for poor performance..had nothing to do with social justice. I also recall that during his "protest season" his performance was sub-par. That's why he's gone.
I also recall other players "taking a knee" during the anthem that are still on NFL rosters--if it were all about the protest, then that wouldn't have happened.
Second...the NFL is a business, and a business has the right to hire or fire anyone they want for any reason that falls within the rule of law. Has Kapernik been precluded from trying out for a spot on an NFL roster? I don't think so...he just hasn't been hired. That's up to the ownership. Same thing with Michael Sam--he can't make an NFL roster because he can't perform up to minimum standards--thus, no slot in the NFL.
Now--to your argument about the Civil War monuments--discounting the Neo-Nazis and the Klan, which are a fraction of the total US population, many of those who support keeping the monuments up want to do so as a way to preserve the historical record, as ugly as it is. Whitewashing or re-writing history is censorship and does a disservice to future generations.
I daresay the majority of people that want those memorials kept in place are not in support of racism, or a return to slavery. They simply want the historical record maintained. I would also venture a guess that you won't find anything on those monuments that supports slavery or racism--simply a record of what that individual did during his/her lifetime.
I recently heard Al Sharpton opine that the Jefferson Memorial be torn down because he was a slave owner. I would hope that you wouldn't support such an initiative, in light of the fact that it would erase a large chunk of American History.
If you want a shining example of a painful reminder of the world history of the past that STILL STANDS and is cherished by it's victims, look no further than the concentration camps erected by Nazi Germany--visited, I might add, by the families of the victims and those that would have been persecuted annually. The Holocaust and it's history are carefully curated and the records maintained as a reminder of what NOT to do in the future.
Iwo Jima is preserved as a monument to a painful battle during WWII, likewise the destruction wrought by the H-bomb still stands in certain locations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those residents don't want these reminders torn down either. The same is true of the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Hawaii.
If we apply your logic, we should tear down the Freedom Center because it is a painful reminder of slavery--I don't think that would fly in the current climate...do you?
Thats my 2 cents.