It's simply a choice. And thank God, we live in a country where we can openly make such a choice, without fear of reprisal.
ON NOVEMBER 19TH 1944 IN THE BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN, CITY OF NEW YORK, IN A NOW DEFUNCT HOSPITAL CALLED, ST. JOHN’S...GOD BROUGHT ME FORTH. I, A LIVING SOUL, CAME FORTH OUT OF MY MOTHER’S WOMB IN THIS COUNTRY CALLED, AMERICA. GOD COULD HAVE GIVEN ME LIFE ANYWHERE, IT WAS HIS CHOICE. BUT HE DEEMED THAT I SHOULD BE A NATURAL BORN AMERICAN CITIZEN. TO ME, THIS WAS ONLY THE ‘ICING’ ON THE CAKE. I SAY THIS BECAUSE THE ‘CAKE’ WAS BAKED OVER 2000 YEARS AGO.
OVER 2000 YEARS AGO, ALMIGHTY GOD WRAPPED HIMSELF IN FLESH AND DIED ON THE CROSS FOR ME. HE BROKE THE CHAINS OF SIN AND MANDATED THAT I DID NOT HAVE TO GO TO HELL JUST BECAUSE I WAS LIVING IN A SINFUL WORLD. A WORLD WHERE I HAD NOT THE ABILITY TO RESIST SIN ON MY OWN. HE CAME WITH MERCY AND GRACE AND HE GAVE ME ‘FREEDOM’ FROM DAMNATION BY GIVING ME THE 'CHOICE' TO CHOOSE HIM OR REJECT HIM. I AM SO GRATEFUL TO MY BELOVED REDEEMER AND WILL FOREVER GIVE HIM HONOR, GLORY AND PRAISE FOR HIS EXTREME SACRIFICE FOR ME.
WITH THIS SAID, I WILL NOW EXPLAIN WHY I BEGAN THIS SHORT ARTICLE IN THE WAY THAT I DID. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, MY COUNTRY, IS A GREAT NATION. WE WERE BIRTHED WITH 'PRAYER' AS OUR INGRAINED HERITAGE. OUR FOREFATHERS DEEMED IT RIGHT TO PRAY WHEN THEY LANDED IN THIS COUNTRY. AND WHEN THEY CAME SO FAR AS TO SET UP OUR AMENDMENTS AND CONSITUTIONS, WHETHER OR NOT ALL WERE WHAT THEY SHOULD BE, THEY PRAYED AND LOOKED UP TO GOD FOR GUIDANCE.
IT SUFFICES TO STATE, THAT OUR COUNTRY IS FILLED WITH A MULTITUDE OF PEOPLE OF VARIOUS NATIONALITIES. AT THIS POINT, FORGET THE COLORS OF SKIN, THE FAITHS, THE BELIEFS, THE CULTURES OR ORIGINS... I AM TALKING ABOUT THE ‘HEART’ OF PEOPLE. IN THIS COUNTRY, AS IN EVERY COUNTRY, THERE ARE GOOD PEOPLE AND THERE ARE BAD ONES. I DON’T CARE WHERE YOU GO YOU CANNOT GET AWAY FROM THIS FACT…THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE CO-EXIST.
SO IT IS OUR COUNTRY HAS, AND HAS ALWAYS HAD, FROM ITS ORIGIN, A CERTAIN SEGMENT OF OUR POPULATION THAT CONSIDER IT 'RIGHT', FROM FEAR AND IGNORANCE, TO DOMINATE THOSE THAT THEY FEEL ARE A THREAT OR BENEATH THEM. THERE ARE BIGOTS WHO FEEL IF ANOTHER PERSON DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THEM, THEY ARE SUPERIOR TO THEM. IN THE DEEP RECESSES OF THEIR CONSCIENCES THEY KNOW THIS ISN’T TRUE. HOWEVER, THEY WILL GO TO ‘ANY MEANS NECESSARY’ TO MAKE IT TRUE. IN FACT, IF THEY’VE EVER HAD A RUN-IN WITH SOMEONE THAT DOESN’T IMAGE THEM…THAT PERSON AND ANYONE WHO LOOKS LIKE THAT PERSON IS ON THEIR ‘HATE’ LIST...FOREVER! AND RACISM, THE BLOODY TIDE, WHICH WE THOUGHT HAD SOMEWHAT ABATED, HAS ONCE AGAIN ERUPTED IN THE HEARTS OF MANY. THE PLIGHT OF THE 60’S IS BACK INCORPORATING THAT DARK SEED MENTALITY OF SALVERY – WITH ITS EGOTISTICAL, SUB-SERVIANT INTENTIONS. SO MUCH SO, THAT HERE LATELY…TRAGICALLY…EQUALITY AND FAIRNESS ARE BLATANTLY PUSHED ASIDE.
YES, THESE SAD CONDITIONS DO EXIST IN THIS GREAT COUNTRY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. BUT, THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE THAT EXISTS HERE…DEMOCRACY! OH, I KNOW, THERE ARE THOSE MEN AND WOMEN ON THE HILL WHO, INFECTED WITH THOSE ‘EVIL SEEDS’ OF RACISM AND BIGOTRY, WILL TRY, AND DO AT TIMES PERSEVERE, IN MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR DEMOCRACY’S LIGHT TO SHINE FORTH. HOWEVER, IN THIS RELATIVELY ‘INFANT', NORTH AMERICAN COUNTRY, DEMOCRACY DOES STILL SHINE! HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IT IS LAWFUL TO 'DEMONSTRATE' UNTIL OUR HEARTS ARE CONTENT. WE DON’T HAVE TO TAKE UNFAIRNESS AND WE CAN PUBLICALLY, WITH RESPECTFUL RESERVE, BASH ANYONE WE DARN WELL PLEASE! WE CAN MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD AND EVENTUALLY WE GET ATTENTION! IT MIGHT TAKE SOME DOING, BUT IF DONE THE RIGHT WAY, WITH PRAYER, WE CAN TURN TIDES…WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! WE CAN SAY WHAT WE LIKE, OPENLY WITH DIGNITY, AND WE DON’T HAVE TO HIDE IN FEAR – AFRAID THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL KILL US OR OUR FAMILIES. WE CAN SAY, ‘NO’ AND WE CAN SAY ‘YES’ AND WE DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING PUNISHED FOR IT! WE ARE INDIVIDUALS AND IN AMERICA WE DON’T HAVE TO APOLIGIZE FOR THAT INDIVIDUALITY! SO, IN SPITE OF ‘ALL’ OF OUR SHORTCOMINGS AND ‘ALL’ OUR PROBLEMS…THIS IS MY HOME AND I’M PROUD OF IT AND PROUD OF THE FACT THAT I AM AN AMERICAN!
CERTAINLY, AS I STATED, WE ARE IMPERFECT HERE, INDEED, BUT IN AMERICA, WE ARE ‘FREE’ TO BE IMPERFECT! AND THIS IS MY ENTIRE POINT! I DON’T CARE WHERE YOU GO IN ALL THE WORLD YOU WILL NOT FIND ‘FREEDOM’ LIKE YOU FIND IT HERE. IN SPITE OF OUR MALITIES WE ARE ‘FREE’ HERE. WE CAN WORSHIP LIKE WE WANT TO…MY GOD! I CAN’T BEGIN TO COUNT THE DIFFERENT FAITHS AND BELIEFS THAT ARE PRACTICED FREELY HERE. WE CAN EARN A DECENT LIVING…MONIES THAT GO INTO OUR OWN POCKETS. AND WE CAN LIVE LIKE WE WANT TO HERE, WHERE OUR CHILDREN, IF THEY DESIRE, CAN GET A DECENT EDUCATION. I LOVE AMERICA! AND I THANK GOD FOR THE BLESSING OF BEING BORN HERE!
THAT’S WHY I RECOGNIZE MY FLAG THAT REPRESENTS MY COUNTRY. I DON’T STAND BECAUSE I LIVE IN A PERFECT PLACE, BECAUSE I DON’T. I DON’T STAND BECAUSE AMERICA IS WITHOUT ‘PAINFUL’ THINGS, BECAUSE IT’S NOT. I DON’T STAND BECAUSE AMERICA’S HISTORY, PAST AND PRESENT IS WITHOUT GREVIOUS SCARS, BECAUSE IT CERTAINLY IS NOT.
I STAND FOR MY FLAG BECAUSE, IN SPITE OF IT ALL…I AM STILL AN AMERICAN! AND I WILL NOT ABANDON HER BECAUSE SHE IS IMPERFECT! I STAND BECAUSE, THOUGH, IN MANY WAYS AS AN AFRO AMERICAN I DON’T FEEL LOVED…I STILL LOVE HER! AND I ALWAYS WILL! MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST FOR THIS COUNTRY, AT HOME AND ON FOREIGN SOIL AND I AM GRATEFUL FOR EVERY DROP OF BLOOD SHED…THIS IS MY HOME! AND BE IT HAPPY TIMES OR SAD TIMES…I WILL ‘STAND’ FOR THE FLAG THAT REPRESENTS ME!
SOME WILL NOT STAND FOR OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM OR PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO OUR FLAG BECAUSE THEY ARE ANGRY WITH OUR COUNTRY. AND IN LIGHT OF THEIR RIGHT TO DO SO, I ASK THEM TO CONSIDER SOMETHING; THE FACT THAT THEY, INDEED, HAVE SUCH A CHOICE…THE FACT THAT THEY CAN OPENLY AND UNRESERVEDLY ‘CHOOSE’ NOT TO RECOGNIZE THE FLAG AND BASICALLY GET AWAY WITH IT, SAYS SUCH A GRAND THING ABOUT OUR LAND! THE FREEDOM TO DO SUCH A THING IS IN ITSELF…A REASON, TO RECOGNIZE IT!
PERSONALLY, I RESPECT EVERY PERSON’S RIGHT TO DO JUST WHAT THEY WANT WITH REGARDS TO ACKNOWLEDGING OUR FLAG BUT, AS FOR ME? THROUGH THE STORMS AND THROUGH THE FIRE, THROUGH THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD, THROUGH THE HIGHS AND THE LOWS, THE SMILES AND THE TEARS, I WILL PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO MY FLAG, AND ACKNOWLEDGE MY COUNTRY’S NATIONAL ANTHEM - I WILL…STAND!
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