Colin Kaepernick is an American patriot. We all should be sick of these ignorant individuals, right-wing anti-liberal propagandists. Manipulating the patriotic efforts of our young people to educate the people and make our country a better place. White America must open its eyes. Your heroes are not our heroes. George Washington did not end slavery, he promoted it. Louis & Clark did not map america for peace. They laid a roadmap for genocide. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI did not work to uphold the inalienable rights of African Americans. They stifled, stomped on, and declared war against them. All with the full support of the U.S. government, mainstream media, and the capitalist elite. They terrorized and murdered our leaders, wrongfully & unlawfully incarcerated hundreds of others, and used that to intimidate and control the rest.
Without Malcolm X, and organizations like the Black Panther Party for Self Defense there would be no Oprah Winfrey, Bob Johnson, Michael Jordan, or Barack Obama. How many Black presidents or Black million-/billionairs were there before the Civil Rights Era? Which in many respects, and for most people of color, was actually a civil war. And tho’ our country is a better place for the efforts of those brave men and women – revolutionaries and patriots in the truest sense. To this day our governments’ leaders, the media and the schools, systematically discredits and demonizes them. Black Lives Matter, and individuals like Carmello Anthony, Colin Kaepernick etc. are not calling for the dismantling of the constitution, to over throw the founding principles of our government, or for anyone to leave if they don’t like it. They’re arguing/protesting for the equal rights, protections, and opportunity for all Americans.
If you want all Americans to feel the same patriotism and love for the flag that you do, white America, then STOP feeding into the perceptions of white America. You must demand the same rights and protections for all Americans that you would for yourself. Do your part, no matter how small, to help bring us all together. If the same number of Black/Hispanic cops were killing the same number of unarmed white boys and girls, or citizens. If the same disproportionate number of young white men and women, boys and girls, were being swallowed up in a system of incarceration used to fuel/boost the economy of broken and dying Black and Hispanic rural communities. Through excessive sentencing, wrongful convictions, and depriving poor white communities of essential resources, access to meaningful education and opportunity. You, your militias, and even the 1%, corporate controled media, state officials, etc… would all be out in mass, with your heavy weaponry armor, and religious books. Demanding justice and change. So stop making excuses. Stop manipulating our offorts and trying to discredit our young people, who are doing exactly the same thing you would do, the best way they know how. If you don’t like it, then offer some viable alternatives, ways we can work together to make this country “our country,” the better place we all want it to be.
Rather than demonizing Colin Kaepernick. Try to understand, the pain this young man is feeling. The courage he is showing. Sacrificing millions of dolars in pay and endorsements. To speak out for those who have no voice. Imagine what “you” would be thinking, feeling. If you saw so many of your young people being murdered by the police. Excessively sentenced and wrongfully incarcerated. That is the message. Until we all see each other as one people. And the flag symbolizes for us, the same as it does for you, the protections, the opportunities, and freedoms that you feel. Why should we stand for it?
Ikemba S. Mutulu
s/n Marritte Funches
CDOC #155850, SCF
P.O. Box 6000, Sterling, CO 80751
Marrittefunches.org / Facebook.com/Ikembasmutulu
©Written and received: September 2016
Marritte Funches 
You must be logged in to post a comment.