West Slams Kaepernick

West chastises Kaepernick

This is another in our series of Guest Posts 

which we publish based on the 

significance and clarity of content

This open letter from Allen West to Colin Kaepernick references Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the US National Anthem played at the football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers.  In partial defense of Mr Kaepernick, we recall the stage was set by Michelle Obama in 2011 when she commented to Barack at a flag ceremony: 

"All this for a damn flag?"

--------

If there’s one thing I live for, it’s football season, especially college. 

Saturday night I was enjoying a fantastic game between Charleston Southern University and North Dakota State University. The game went into overtime and ended with the Bison of NDSU winning 24-17.  However, as I watched this thrilling game, it was an item on the ESPN news ticker that disturbed me — to which I see a need to respond to this “teachable moment.”

As we reported yesterday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the National Anthem in Friday’s pre-season game against Green Bay because he was protesting “black oppression” in the United States. The Niners went on to lose.

The NFL issued a statement that said players are encouraged but not required to stand for the national anthem. 

Hmm, this is the same NFL that refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys to wear a helmet decal in honor of the fallen Dallas Police officers gunned down on Thursday, 7 July 2016.

This is the same NFL that said nothing when players from the St. Louis Cardinals displayed the false narrative symbol of “hands up, don't shoot” — which we know didn’t happen. 

I find it rather interesting that the NFL has no issue disrespecting law enforcement officers but only “encourages” players to respect the symbol of our nation, the American flag, and our anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

However, I would recommend a simple scripture from the wise King Solomon for Mr Kaepernick, Proverbs 17:28 (NIV): 

“Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”

Or, as the old folks down South would say, 

“...best for a stupid person to keep their mouth shut and not open it and let everyone know they are.”

Mr Kaepernick, a biracial young man adopted and raised by white parents, claims America is oppressing blacks at a time when we have a Black, biracial president who was twice elected. 

We’ve had two black US Attorneys General and currently have a Black Secretary of Homeland Security, along with a Black national security advisor. 

Here in Dallas our police chief, whom I know, is an outstanding Black leader. The officer in Milwaukee who shot the armed assailant after issuing an order to drop his weapon was Black. 

Is Mr. Kaepernick following suit and cherry-picking what he terms “oppression?”

Oppressed Kaepernick's House

First of all, let me clarify to you sir, you are a multi-millionaire “one-percenter” just because you can throw a ball and kiss your biceps. 

Men like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Oscar Robertson, Ernie Davis, and Bernard King and Condredge Halloway of my alma mater were athletes who knew of oppression. 

You, sir, may certainly have the right to sit upon your “fourth point of contact” when the National Anthem is played but never forget, you live in a nation that has provided you the privilege to have that right.

My story is one I wish to share. 

My dad was a corporal in the U.S. Army and served during World War II. He was born in 1920 and knew oppression. Yet, when he sat me down on the steps of our home, 651 Kennesaw Ave NE in Atlanta, he shared with me that there was no greater honor or privilege, than to wear the uniform of these United States. Perhaps that is why his first and middle sons, along with his grandson, are all US combat veterans, just like Dad. 

Herman West Sr. was not a victim, and he raised men who would never allow anyone to suppress or oppress them. Perhaps you should stop trying to make victims and admonish people, black people, to be victors — try it, and you may find that more satisfying than your insidious action and word vomiting.

If you want to know about oppression of blacks in America, past and present, I suggest you ask UD Representative Nancy Pelosi of the San Francisco Bay Area about the policies that decimated the black family? 

Maybe you can cross the Bay over to Oakland and ask US Representative Barbara Lee about the 13 to 15 million black babies killed since 1973, and ask her who is Margaret Sanger?

Or perhaps you can ask the two California senators, Boxer and Feinstein, about who doesn’t support better education opportunities for black children in the inner cities — school choice, vouchers, charter schools, home schooling.

Perhaps you didn’t know Barack Obama was the one who cancelled the DC School Voucher Program for deserving young Black children — talk about oppression. Is that something you’re willing to do, or is it just too difficult?

You should look at who’s been controlling the communities and cities where Blacks live. This isn’t not about what America has done; it’s about what a certain group, a political party has done. 

And your somewhat backhanded comment towards our law enforcement officers — well, I wonder how many times San Francisco PD has protected you?

Here is the deal young man. 

My recommendation is that you apologize. Be a stand up fella and admit you made a very stupid comment. Humbly state that you do realize how very special this country is and the opportunities it has afforded you — and many others. 

You should take that stand and apologize to all of those who are currently serving in our Armed Forces and those veterans who’ve been willing to make that last full measure of devotion. 

You see, when the National Anthem is played, it has a very special meaning to us — maybe you should take a hiatus and go over to Helmand Province in Afghanistan and spend a week and understand why. Go over and throw a football with the men and women who enable you to earn those millions of dollars.

The American Flag has a very touching meaning for those of us for whom it will drape our coffin — as it was for my Dad…and it will be for me. 

That song defines who we are as a proud and exceptional people. This is a land where so many dream of coming to and earning the title of American. Your actions were shameful, disgusting, despicable and disrespectful.

You do have a right and a freedom of expression. But know, there are consequences to your ignorant action, which is what it was.

When the National Anthem is played, I salute because I am a Black man, born and raised in the inner city afforded the opportunity for greatness in my own right. 

May you seek God’s forgiveness and find humility, because we, the people are not going to forget what you did and said.

signed

Allen B West

Lieutenant Colonel [Ret]

US Army

Editorial Note:

West's Military decorations include

Bronze Star

Meritorious Service Medal [3]

Army Commendation Medal [3+Valor]

Army Achievement Medal [2]

Valorous Unit Award

Air Assault Badge

Master Parachutist Badge

West was a US Congressman in Florida 2011 - 2013]; he was defeated when Democrats changed the districts; notably, the margin by which he was defeated came from St Lucie County in which 799 votes went missing, while thousands of Military Absentee Ballots were not counted.  The Florida Attorney General chose not to indict the St Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, Gertrude Walker, even though she admitted to "irregularities [e.g., 'discovery of uncounted ballots']" in both the election vote count and the subsequent recount.

Suffrage

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100 Years ago, women couldn't vote                        [National Archives]

As we celebrate the anniversary of the Women's Suffrage March of 1913 [the beginning of Woodrow Wilson's first term] -- in conjunction with the anniversary of Martin Luther King's Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963, it's worthwhile to review the history of that era surrounding the Women's Suffrage Movement -- which played a major role in Martin Luther King's strategy some 50 years later.

Regarding the Suffragette Movement, Wilson, and Race issues:
1) Black Women were requested to march in the last ranks of the Suffragette parade 
2) President Woodrow Wilson [D] was
     a) Vehemently against women's suffrage and tossed their leaders into Lorton federal prison
     b) "Deeply racist in his thoughts and politics" [PBS]

PBS produced a program titled Wilson - A Portrait: Women's Suffrage a while back; this was their report on Wilson's gentlemanly treatment of the women:

Parody of Suffragettes in prison        [National Archives]

1) "In late June 1917, six women were arrested. Eleven more were detained on July 4. Ten days later, a third group was taken into custody. All the women were charged with 'obstructing traffic'."

2) "The protesters were sentenced to 60 days in the workhouse. There, they suffered beatings, forced feeding, and unsanitary conditions. But the pickets - and the arrests - continued."



3) "In August, scuffles broke out right in front of the White House gates. For three days suffragettes were dragged, punched and choked by angry crowds. City police stood by, refusing to intervene."

It would seem the greatest enemy of both Blacks and Women in that time frame was 
Woodrow Wilson - a Democrat!

Woodrow Wilson [D]

Wilson also
1) Engaged us in World War I,
2) Signed off on the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank
3) Signed off on the Sedition Act and the Espionage Act [suspending the Constitution and making it a crime to criticize the government or government officials]
4) Introduced the Income Tax
5) Set the stage for WW2 when he betrayed the defeated Germans with the brutal terms of the Treaty of Versailles -- which had promised "...an equitable peace."  The post-war reparations demands destroyed the economy of Germany and created the environment in which Hitler was welcomed by desperate Germans as a savior with his message of "Forward! Hope, and Change!"

Wilson's Advisors

But, Wilson is little known for his racist policies to destroy the socio-economic progress of Blacks
1)  He supported the KKK [Ku Klux Klan] 

      and declared it was "understandable"
2)  As President of Princeton, he barred Blacks

     from attending
3)  As Governor of NJ, he barred Blacks from

     working for the state

4)  As President, he supported segregation in

      the federal government, stating:

      a) "Segregation is not humiliating but a benefit" and,
      b)  It is "... distinctly to the advantage of the colored people themselves"

He solicited the Black vote through the support of W.E.B. DuBois, to whom he promised his support.  Once elected, he advised he had
"...made no promises in particular to Negroes, except to do them justice."
[Source:  Woodrow Wilson: American Prophet (1958)]


As a footnote, the racism of President Wilson was reversed by Wilson's successors, 

Warren G Harding

1)  President Harding [R]:
.....a) Advocated Civil Rights and political,
         economic and educational equality
         for Blacks
.....b) Appointed Blacks to federal positions
.....c) Advocated international commission to
         improve race relations between
         Whites and Blacks
.....d) Supported the Dyer "Anti-Lynching"
         Bill [Defeated by Senate
         Democrat filibuster]

Calvin Coolidge

2)  President Coolidge [R]:
......a) Urged the creation of the
          "Negro Industrial Commission"

               to promote mutual understanding
......b) Hosted James W Johnson, the first
          Black to head the NAACP, at the White House
......c) Openly confronted and opposed the KKK
......d) Publicly endorsed and supported the first 

          Black Congressional nominee in NYC:
......e) Quoted Teddy Roosevelt's words in
           support of racial equality

"I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope 

                                                                -- the door of opportunity - is to be shut upon any man, no 

                                                                matter how worthy, purely on the grounds of race or color"

Herbert Hoover

3)  President Hoover [R]:
.....a) Desegregated the Department of Commerce
.....b) Invited Robert Moton of the Tuskegee Institute to
         public ceremonies at the White House
.....c) Invited to White House Tea the wife of  Black Congressman
         Oscar de Priest of Chicago
----d) Commuted the death sentence of a Black man convicted
          of murdering a White woman
.....e)  Sharply increased appropriations for Howard University
.....f)  Publicly condemned lynchings



Although Republican Presidents provided positive support for both Women's Suffrage and for the advancement of Blacks, both Women and Blacks have traditionally leaned towards the Democrats at the voting booth since LBJ introduced his Great Society welfare program.

Notably, the accomplishments of Conservatives in support of 

Blacks and Women have either been erased from, or 

minimized in our textbooks 

- and on the Internet.

A few notable Democrats who have disparaged the Blacks who revered them: