*Note: This is a reader-submitted opinion piece. Opinions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@clarksvillenow.com

I don’t believe any student attending American schools has a problem with the American flag. We pledged allegiance to the flag and stood at attention when the flag was posted on the pole on our campus. Having said that, I must also admit that the same flag that I gave allegiance to and the same flag that I served under military duty did not equally protect my citizenship as an American.

COUNT THE WAYS I HAVE BEEN MISTREATED UNDER THIS FLAG
1. SCHOOL A system that was inferior to white schools when it appeared that used books were passed on to us and used desks passed to us when new ones placed in other schools and other benefits were not available to us.

2. TEEN JOBS NOT AVAILABLE Some summer jobs were not available to me.

3. ENTERTAINMENT and other citizens community benefits restricted to us provided more to white students, my equal. How do I square this inequity with the flag?

4. MILITARY I served in two army bands. In Georgia, we were preparing to go on a short trip for a parade. A couple of white members decided to drive and invited me to ride with them instead of riding the bus. At some point, some one suggested that we get a sandwich. We stopped at a little food place that had a serving window outside. We went up to the window and begun to place our orders. The clerk pointed to me and said, “I can’t take his order.” One of the men suggested I go back to the car and they would get my order. The driver of the car said, “No, if they won’t serve Jerry, they can’t serve us.” We were in our dress band military uniform. That’s just a sample of what I experienced as a soldier in military uniform.

My first experience was at Ft. Jackson, SC in basic training. One morning the Sgt asked if anyone would like to be a fireman. I raised my hand and received instructions for the first training session. It was not a fire truck…it was how to handle coal and the furnace. The white civilian instructor said, “Listen, Don’t put your head in the furnace. If you do you will come out BLACK AS A N****R!” Class members laughed. I said, “That’s not funny, I came for instruction for a job and you insult my intellect.” I reported to my platoon leader and he suggested that I report to the First Sgt. The Sgt announced in formation that no one will be assigned to the class again. He later announced that guy had been fired. I didn’t believe it.

I was never in a war zone but I think about those minority military persons injured or killed serving in foreign countries to help other nations and return home under a flag that requires that they fight again to secure rights this flag guarantees to all citizens.

5. FLAG DEMONSTRATIONS: Not standing for the flag is not an attempt to disrespect the flag. It is a means of getting attention to a particular problem that is generally ignored. The NFL players are saying, “You cheer for me when I run the plays but you ignore me when my citizenship means nothing to you.”

Note the origin of KAEPERNICK’S protest: For three games beginning on August 14, Kaepernick sat during the anthem. Then, after consulting former Green Beret and former NFL player Nate Boyer about the best way to make his point without disrespecting the military, Kaepernick began taking a knee in games beginning on September 1.

The recent news regarding the NBA and President Trump is not new for sports. These sports persons were always willing to endure whatever punishment followed their public display.

In 1968, U.S. Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a raised-fist “black power” salute on the medal stand as the Star-Spangled Banner was being played. They were thrown out of the Olympics. Four years later, U.S. Olympians Vince Matthews and Wayne Collett, who were also African-American, were barred from further competition when they were considered to have shown insufficient respect from the medal stand. The boxing champion Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali) was loud and clear on his position as an American champion.

Some fans also found room to express their views during the anthem. “During the Vietnam era, it was not uncommon for fans — not enormous numbers, but some — to remain seated during the anthem.”

In March 1996, the National Basketball Association suspended the Denver Nuggets’ Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. A convert to Islam, Abdul-Rauf said he did not believe in standing for any nationalistic ideology, according to the New York Times.

As for baseball, Cassidy Lent, a reference librarian at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., said she was not aware of any protests beyond the one by Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland A’s in the wake of Trump’s comments.

A footnote: In his 1972 autobiography, I Never Had It Made, Jackie Robinson — who broke baseball’s color line in 1947 — wrote, “As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world.”

Jackie Robison is celebrated as a national sports figure. Even as a celebrity, he still realized he was a black man in a white world. President Trump said this is not a racial concern. Yet, it is clear to see that our president, although strongly denied, has a problem with race. Though he may deny it, it is revealed in his actions and speech.

The Confederate Flag is not a threat to me in America. In fact, it is not that flag that creates a problem for us. It is the ELECTED OFFICIALS under the American Flag that support legislation that hurt us and defeat legislation that may help us. America will never be America until all citizens in Harlem or in Puerto Rico can truly believe they are supported by the same CONSTITUTION and FLAG.

THOUGHTS I THINK
Pastor Jerry Gaines Jerkins
Clarksville, Tennessee
October 2, 2017