North Korea says the U.S. has made a “declaration of war.” Hurricane-raved Puerto Rico may be descending into “hysteria.” A Sudanese immigrant tried to massacre a church full of Christians in Tennessee. But in our top story, a sports nut mouthed off about some pro athletes protesting at a game.

Unfortunately, that sports nut was the President of the United States, who his critics insist is a racist. Unfortunately, his predecessor spent eight years pumping into the American psyche that this is an inherently racist country with armies of police officers itching to kill young black men. Unfortunately, this nation has a media that are more than eager to play along.

And unfortunately, this nation has a deep wound. It’s an historic ache within our African-American brothers and sisters, that makes even isolated remarks and events hurt like a torn rib muscle.

It is easy, so easy, with everything else going on in the world to say, “Everyone just shut up. Players, play. Fans, cheer. We don’t need this nonsense on a Sunday afternoon.” True. We don’t need this nonsense. But we do need to look at the situation seriously, ultimately from God’s healing perspective.

Dismissing What Needs to Be Dismissed

First, we need to cut the posers. And that starts with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. His response to Trump’s remarks is about as useless as a 2017 Atlanta Falcon Super Bowl Champs t-shirt. Last season, the same NFL that’s cheering players who are protesting against the police prohibited the Dallas Cowboys from honoring the five officers who were assassinated by a Black Lives Matter supporter. They also threatened to fine players who wore shoes commemorating 9/11.

We also need to bench media scrubs like CNN’s Chris Cillizza who reflexively declared Trump’s comments racist. That also goes for the hordes of celebrities who decided to #takeaknee yesterday to protest Trump’s remarks. (Note to the cast of Star Trek: Discovery: Basically telling those who support the flag to buzz off on the day of your premiere is the dumbest sci-fi move since Jar Jar Binks.)

The Players

It’s easy to dismiss the players — starting with protest instigator Colin Kaepernick — as ungrateful millionaire crybabies disrespecting the country where freedom allows them to live large. But how many have been pulled over in ritzy, predominantly white neighborhoods while driving through with their luxury ride? How many have been suspiciously eyeballed by security while shopping in a high-end store? How many grew up in neighborhoods where the relationship between cops and community had been soured. How many saw the high profile deaths of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and Eric Gardner and wondered, “There, but for the grace of God go I … “?

And yes, how many spent four years on campus being told by professors how inherent bias and white privilege handicapped their every hope of success?

We can’t judge too hard without having walked in their cleats.

Clearly, the mass actions yesterday had to do with Trump’s comments Friday night, one line in particular. At a rally in football-loving Alabama, Trump said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired, he’s fired!'” The audience roared.

Here’s where ears hear different things. One can hear a very common — if coarse — colloquial expression that is, in effect, one word; a phrase run together.

But in the ears of a player raised by a single mother in a culture that demeans women as “bitches” in song and on screen, those words are the President of the United States taking a shot at his mother. In fact that’s exactly how an emotional Grady Jarrett of the Atlanta Falcons took it. He told reporters, “I felt like me, myself, Grady Jarrett is the son of a Queen.”

It was clearly not Trump’s intention, but busting on mothers is always gonna draw a flag.

Jarrett’s teammate Dontari Poe also took a knee, insisting it was a statement against racial and social justice. Poe says he meant no disrespect to the flag or military.

“I know people (in the military),” Poe told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “I have a girl friend who’s in the Air Force. She’s in the reserves now. I’m not disrespecting that at all. I wouldn’t disrespect her like that. At the same time, I felt it wasn’t disrespecting the flag, but I was just standing up for what I believe in.”

The problem is, imagine you’re a service member facing daily dangers in Iraq or Afghanistan, or on some ship moving towards North Korea. What happens when you turn on a game and there’s Poe and your other fellow countrymen taking a knee during the National Anthem? Sure, Mr. NFL Star, you’re there for the guy who ignored a cop’s orders and got himself shot. But are you willing to stand for the soldier who followed orders and was killed? You can’t stand for us when they are playing the National Anthem?

Which leads us to the Commander-in-Chief.

President Donald Trump

In Monday’s press briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended President Trump’s statements. She said, “I think it’s always appropriate for the president of the United States to defend our flag, to defend the national anthem, and to defend the men and women who fought and died to defend it.”

How sad that what used to be self-evident now must be stated.

But there’s more to it. We’re talking about the son of an immigrant who the freedoms and opportunities of this land made successful in unbelievable measure. The construction guy from Queens who became an international mogul. The entrepreneur convinced of a notion pounded into second generation kids of his era that with hard work and hustle anyone can achieve the American Dream. Anyone can grow up to be President of the United States.

The heart of what Trump is saying — with all the elegance of a fullback trying to bust it in from the one with seconds on the clock — is that the flag matters. The National Anthem matters. America matters! America matters and she deserves to be honored.

Monday he re-tweeted an image of Pat Tillman. Tillman walked away from the NFL after the 9/11 attacks and joined our special forces. He would be killed in action. It is faces like Tillman, of all races, that many see when they hear the words “land of the free, home of the brave.”

https://twitter.com/jayMAGA45/status/912025733530341377

Yet for some the “broad stripes and white stars” carry the echoes of lashings and lynchings, and images of young black men laying face down in the street.

So What Do We Do?

Yesterday, after a sleepless night, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger released a statement expressing his regret that his team stayed in the locker room during the Anthem. “The idea was to be unified as a team when so much attention is paid to things dividing our country, but I wish we approached it differently.” I wager Big Ben wasn’t the only one tossing and turning.

So what do we do?

First acknowledge the basic truths in what Roethlisberger said: The nation is divided. Most of us yearn for unity. And our recent approach ain’t working.

Second, acknowledge this NFL-Trump clash poses a particular problem: We’ve got the fiercest, toughest competitors in sports and the fiercest, toughest competitor in politics crashing head-to-head. Keep that up and all you’ve got is a bunch of concussions.

America, blow the whistle! It has to be us because the media won’t do it and neither will our politicians.

Third, talk to each other. As James Robison shared in a powerful Facebook video posted Sunday night, Trump is open to sitting with and listening to those whom he finds sincere. Robison’s own experience with Trump proved that. He urges all sides to “come to the table of reason.”

Let’s take a cue from Foster Friess’ “Return to Civility” initiative. #BoycottNFL types, reach out to the #TakeaKnees. Find the common ground. As Dr. Michael Brown wrote Monday morning, ultimately both sides want a great America.

Fourth, we must pray. Pray for the nation and pray for this President.

Fifth, maybe, just maybe, we should sing.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

Writer Jon Guertin has an idea. With all this fuss over the National Anthem, he suggests we take a look at the so-called “Black National Anthem”: The hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

It was written in the decades after the Civil War and Emancipation. It speaks to the “faith that the dark past has taught us” and the “hope that the present has brought us.”

Thomas Lifson suggested Trump ask his pal Patriots owner Robert Kraft to host performances of the song during pre-games along with the National Anthem. No, we can’t have two anthems side-by-side as if there are two nations, as in hockey. The goal is one nation, under God, indivisible.

However, there’s nothing to stop the song from being sung before the start of the second half, the way some baseball teams play “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch. (And as an extra benefit, it’s easier to sing than “The Star-Spangled Banner.”)

 

 

This would be a symbolic gesture, a unifying gesture, a recognition of the “gloomy days” past. But if we can “Lift Every Voice and Sing” perhaps we can find the harmony we seek.

“May we forever stand, True to our God, True to our native land.”