Strength, Reverence, and Submission in AMERIKKKA
When an act of submission becomes a threat to an establishment it makes me wonder what exactly is the agenda of the powers that be. There is no more meek an act than to kneel.
It shows reverence, respect, and most of all a passive positioning. So why is it when a black athlete, (who in essence represents the strength and power of a man or woman through competition and exploits) kneels is it being labeled as a sign of disrespect?
We kneel when we pray in churches across the world. The man or woman who asks for a hand in marriage takes the knee. Never in these situations is it taken as a threat. It's a lowly position. Except in the context of being patriotic.
It's becoming more and more plain to see that no matter the position a person of color takes. Whether revolutionary activist with Molotov in hand. Or Afro American pacifist kneeling on the sideline. The rules are written in blood.
To not follow these rules. To show defiance even through restraint is a threat to systematic oppression in the eyes of white supremacists and neo nazis.
Students from across the country came together to form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and organize sit-ins at counters throughout the South. ... The nonviolent measures employed by Martin Luther King Jr. helped African American activists win supporters across the country and throughout the world. But they still killed MLK.
Malcom X, although pegged as a violent man had an understanding of the position we were in then and even now.
"The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as human beings, the God-given right to be a human being. Our common goal is to obtain the human rights that America has been denying us. We can never get civil rights in America until our human rights are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as humans.”
Whether kicking or screaming. Kneeling and praying. Organizing and saying we want to build our own institutions. Any desire to be African more so than American is not acceptable to the powers that be. We serve in the armed forces and are left torn to pieces without proper compensation or healthcare.
We work hard for our children and try to keep our homes only to be pushed out of our neighborhoods and have our children shot down in the streets. If we had a horse in this race to begin with it was cut down long ago. So let us kneel. Let us be angry. Let us be free.
Terrence Michael Smalls
