Knees and Fists: Hope Dies Last

The following was inspired by an interview with Malcolm Jenkins that appeared in the May issue of The Atlantic.  Jenkins plays football for the Philadelphia Eagles, and while he hasn't taken a knee during the National Anthem prior to his games, he and other Eagles players have raised their fists.

Players who kneel or raise fists have been characterized as "unpatriotic" and worse by many football fans and observers who do not understand the nature of their protest, or who are threatened by minority voices questioning and challenging the injustices of our society.

Malcolm Jenkins and many other NFL players do not simply protest injustice.  They are raising money and working to address the divisions and inequalities in American society.  Jenkins has started a foundation for such matters and has recruited numerous other players, black and white, and solicited funds, even from the NFL itself.

If you have not seen the May issue of The Atlantic, it is a simple matter to look up Malcolm Jenkins and his foundation online to learn what really is behind the NFL anthem protests and what those protesting are doing in response.

Thoughtlessly criticizing, caricaturing, name-calling, belittling, and condemning people who actively seek a better, more just society is a long-standing American practice.  Thank goodness for Malcolm Jenkins, his cohorts, those who have risked much in the past, and those who will risk in the future that all people may be treated as though they really were "created equal."

Here is what I wrote:

KNEES AND FISTS:  HOPE DIES LAST                                 

All of our nation’s excesses on display

For three hours on Sunday afternoon:

Militaristic glory;

Suffocating Consumerism;

The hunger for Violence;

We’re Good, You’re Evil;

The Vicarious Thrill of Beating, Humiliating, and Ridiculing The Other.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please rise, remove your hats and direct your attention to the 50-yard line and join the great

Country and Western vocal star

As we Honor America by singing our National Anthem!”

But taking a knee as our Civil Religion is practiced

Before millions In the National Television audience?

Raising a fist as we roll out our Icons

For misty-eyed and lumpy-throated worship?

That’s Blasphemy!  That’s Unpatriotic!  That’s Ungrateful! That’s Un-American!

Knees were taken in Southern cities five decades ago as dogs, fire hoses

And hatred bore down.

Fists were raised as Olympic gold was awarded in Mexico City in 1968

As disproportionate ranks of Blacks and other expendables

Fought and died in Vietnam. 

Knees are taken and fists are raised today as Injustice still plagues these United States, As our prisons overflow (don’t worry, we can always build more!),

As those who are sworn to enforce emphasize the Force (deadly, though it is).

Knees are taken and fists are raised

In the Hope that the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

One day

Will live up to its self-assured and self-proclaimed Identity and Promise.

Hope drives, motivates, comforts, inspires, emboldens. 

Hope, as it is said, “Dies Last.”

But like the glaciers and rivers

That carved Majesty into our landscape, Hope plods and drags,

Tapping the fearful and the paranoid on their shoulders

Rather than slapping their faces.

Those who embrace it wait,

Often suffer,

Find themselves vilified,

And disappear before its fulfillment.

But it moves. 

Hope moves. 

Hope carves. 

Hope transforms.

Although not usually on Sunday afternoon

During those three hours

When our Nation’s Excesses

All are on display.