A MESSAGE ABOUT AMERICA, TRUMP, AND PATRIOTISM FROM A FORMER MARINE

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

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A MESSAGE ABOUT AMERICA, TRUMP, AND PATRIOTISM FROM A FORMER MARINE

Danny, I love your writing, but I'm with Rodney - I'll leave the "love and understanding" to people like yourself. Black people have been taking the forgiveness route for over 400 years and all it's gotten us is killed in even greater numbers. While there are many good people in this country who only want to love their families, live a life of community, and truly practice what they profess to believe, they have to be educated to see America as it truly is, instead of consuming the John Wayne version of American that they've been spoon fed all of their lives. So we can't afford to tap dance around this issue. We must state the facts honestly, in no uncertain terms, and without a lot of undue emotionalism, and here are those facts:
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This nation has NEVER lived up to the myth that the American flag is supposed to represent, so it’s past time for us to stop living a lie and start to actually live up to the ideals in which we claim to believe.

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After being welcomed to this land by well-meaning Native Americans, European immigrants responded by presenting their hosts with disease-infected blankets and then bringing in their army to eradicate them. In the end they killed as many as 200 million Native Americans (“In the name of the Lord”, of course) in order to steal their land and their resources. Thereafter, they moved on to either kill or make the lives of 12.5 million African slaves miserable. Then after slavery, there was the Jim Crow era in which millions of African Americans were discriminated against, brutalized, and in many cases murdered - and we mustn’t forget that during that very same time, the nation was involved in WWII where Japanese American citizens had their property seized and entire families were placed in concentration camps. In addition, the United States dropped not one, but two atomic bombs on the people of Japan - and since the men, women, and children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were innocent noncombatants, that constituted the most brutal and heartless act of terrorism in all of human history. 
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But God-fearing “America the Beautiful” still wasn’t done. It went on to kill 3.1 million Vietnamese - 2 million of which were also innocent noncombatant men, women, and children. They then did the very same thing to the people of Iraq, but they were more compassionate with the Iraqis - they only killed a million of them, but for no other reason than the fact that they didn’t like the cut of their jib.
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So tell me, exactly what it was that Colin Kaepernick was supposed to feel so proud of that he should feel obligated to stand in solemn reverence every time a song is played? It’s not as if either the song, or the flag, represents a history of great acts of human compassion, it’s a flag that represents over 240 years of criminal butchery, brutality, and mayhem. So the bottom line is, Trump was demanding that Colin Kaepernick stand to salute White supremacy, and that's exactly what's meant by "Make America Great Again"- "Let's go back to the 'good ole days' when we could lynch a coon at will."  So, tell me, when was America great the first time? Give me a year.

But in spite of all that, when Colin took the knee, he wasn’t ranting and raving about not loving this country, his actions simply suggested that every true American should stop lying about who we profess to be and follow the dictates of the United States Constitution, but Donald Trump wouldn't know anything about that - or care!
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How can Colin Kaepernick denigrate the flag by taking a knee, when the flag is supposed to be a SYMBOL of free expression? That’s like saying a person is disrespecting the church by being a Christian. That’s not only hypocritical, but stupid, another two conditions far from remote when discussing Donald Trump. 
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As a former marine I can say without a doubt - and I’m sure that Trump’s former Chief of Staff, Gen. Kelly, could also tell him - that American fighting men and women didn’t die for a piece of cloth or a song; American warriors died for what that piece of cloth represents - the very personal freedom that Draft-Dodging Donnie is using the power of the presidency to denied Kaepernick.
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Just try to wrap your head around the profound hypocrisy involved here!!! The very same man who played sports all through high school and college, went limping into the draft board with a note

from his doctor (who just happened to be  one of his daddy’s tenants) saying he couldn’t serve the country because his goddamn feet hurt (leading to one of his FIVE deferments). Now, in spite of the fact that he went out of his way to duck his responsibility to the nation, that very same man is now wrapping himself in the flag and setting himself up to pass judgment on who is, and who is not, a loyal American! Now, isn’t that just too rich!!!?  Only Donald Trump would have the shameless audacity to even attempt to pull off such a glaringly brazen act of hypocrisy with a straight face!
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So it wasn't Colin Kaepernick who disrespected the flag, it was Donald Trump. But he's not doing it alone - we’re ALL colluding in disrespecting the flag by allowing somebody like Trump to even VISIT the White House, and history is never gonna forgive us for it. History refers to the generation that lived through the Great Depression and fought WWII as “The Greatest Generation.” We’re going to be remembered as “The Most Treacherous Generation”, because we’ve been tarnished by Trump, and as everyone knows, everything Trump touches dies in disgrace. Just look at what he's done to the Republican Party.
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SO WOULDN’T IT BE NICE IF A TRUE PATRIOT WOULD COME ALONG AND SAY, “GET THAT DUMB SON OF A BITCH OUT THE WHITE HOUSE!” AND THEN STAND UP FOR AMERICA BY TAKING A KNEE WITH COLIN KAEPERNICK!!!?
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Yes it would be nice, very nice, and all of Arlington Cemetery would be set aquiver in patriotic delight. But it's "we the people" who must step in as that heroic patriot in defense of our Constitution. The founding fathers depended on it. Without the dedication of a determined people our founding documents are meaningless, and if we lack the backbone to defend what we profess to believe, we don't deserve to be protected.
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Trump likes to place his brand on everything he owns, and now that the Republican senate clearly demonstrated that they lacked the backbone to stand up to him and defend the United States Constitution during the impeachment trial, he's currently in the process of placing a Trump sign on America. So it's incumbent upon the American people to find our own backbone and take our nation back. We must make the Trump brand synonymous with everything that is treasonous, demagogic, and corrupt in American politics. Our history books of the future should refer to lying and corruption as "Trumpsonian", and refer to corrupt and self-serving politicians as "Trumplodytes." That way the time we've suffered with Donald Trump will serve a purpose. Trump will serve as a perfect symbol of this nation's rejection of all motives that are divisive, dishonorable, or corrupt in American politics.
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It is essential, therefore, that we address this issue. So let us welcome November 2020 with a festive anticipation, and celebrate it with the fervor of the 4th of July. Let us celebrate it as the year we brought this horrible episode in American history to an abrupt end, and the year that we truly "drained the swamp". This is such a significant moment in American history that - if we survive it - November 3, 2020 should be declared a national holiday that we celebrate each year - a holiday that we celebrate with great pride, bated breath, and a quivering heart.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
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Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.