I Take a Knee
I know I am overly passionate and argumentative- but racism (xenophobia- all its forms) has always been a huge trigger for me. As far back as I can remember. When I was a child even.
I remember grilling my husband about it when we dated- because racism in a partner is an absolute deal breaker for me. I also remember making sure my new family understood that I don’t tolerate – like not even one iota- racist remarks of any kind. So if they are made in my presence, expect a reaction from me. To me- this is the baseline of humanity. And it’s my religion. Human beings are equal. Period. The only way one human being is above another- is in their character- in how they treat other people. That is my religion. I care more about human beings than I do man-made borders, pieces of cloth and patriotic songs. Yes- I respect my country- I get teary-eyed when I hear ‘God Bless America” – I was born in America. I am American. But in my lifetime- America has not been living up to its alleged ideals of ‘all men are created equal.’
People love to drag corpses through their arguments to state that people died for our freedoms. Okay- then why would you allow for a huge swath of the American population to be treated anything less than equal? THAT is spitting on the graves of those who died. Not worrying about someone kneeling when a song is played. The fake patriotism in America has the rest of the world laughing at us. Ask people who live abroad what they think of Americans. 9 times out of 10 they say, “Overly patriotic.” In other words- we talk the talk—- but we don’t walk the walk.
I prefer to walk the walk- not talk the talk. I prefer to ACTUALLY stand up for equality – not just for the red, white and blue colors pressed into a piece of cloth. I can only live with myself when I ACTUALLY LIVE by the ideals the flag is supposed to stand for.
Flags and anthems representing democracy mean NOTHING when you stand by while men and women and children in this country are NOT treated equally. Pretending there isn’t a huge racism cancer in our country doesn’t make the problem go away. Guilting or forcing people to stand in allegiance is what dictatorships do and fascist governments do. If you demand that kind of allegiance- maybe you should move to North Korea. THIS is America where we are supposed to have INALIENABLE RIGHTS FOR ALL OF OUR PEOPLE. If you can’t WALK THE WALK— why talk the talk? Talk is cheap.
I take a knee. #TakeAKnee
About the Author
About the Author: I'm a Writer, Speaker and Muslim Activist. I'm a former Board Member of the #MyJihad Public Education Campaign.
Follow my blog at yasminareality.com or follow me on Twitter: @yasmina_reality. I'm also now on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YasminaReality
Peace! More from this author.
Don't Miss the Next Great Post
If you enjoyed this blog post, subscribe below, and you'll receive an automatic email update when we publish new content.