Keller: QB misses point with Anthem protest

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, August 31, 2016

I’ve repeated many times in different articles that America is not a majority Christian nation anymore, and we’ve also lost the spirit of patriotism.

This past weekend, Colin Kaepernick, a 49ers quarterback, decided to sit during the playing of the national anthem. The day after, he said that he plans to sit through the anthem for as long as he feels is appropriate and until he sees significant progress in America, specifically when it comes to race relations.

Evidently, he is not aware of what’s going on in America.

He may not have noticed that President Obama is an African American. (I would consider that progress.)

I agree that race relations are not where God would want them to be, but I question if Kaepernick has contributed anything to improve them. I didn’t realize until recently that his adoptive parents were Caucasian.

They provided him with a comfortable living.

Needless to say, they didn’t look at the color of his skin, but realized that a person’s spirit has no color.

As I entered the Shell station on Belle Terre Boulevard Monday morning, the regular coffee drinkers asked, “What did you think of the 49ers’ quarterback sitting during the playing of the national anthem?”

My answer was, “I wasn’t surprised, but grieved that an ungrateful person who benefited from the freedoms we enjoy didn’t respect the men and women who paid the ultimate price to give him that freedom.”

NaVorro Bowman, a linebacker on the team, said, “Every guy on this team is entitled to their opinion. We’re all grown men.”

“I agree with what he did, but not in the way he did it,” Torrey Smith, another teammate said. “That’s not for me. He has that right. Soldiers have died for his right to do exactly what he did.”

Both Bowman and Smith are African Americans.

What’s most disturbing about this incident is that people like Kaepernick who have benefited the most from the freedoms we enjoy, appreciate them the least.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to Get High on Life, P.O. Drawer U, Reserve, LA 70084, call 985-652-8477 or email hkeller@comcast.net.