Still Kneeling During the National Anthem? Why You Should Stop.

It's all the rage right now. Kneeling during the national anthem. Your first amendment rights are protected from repercussions from the government should you choose to kneel. Raise awareness about how our minorities are being treated. Kneeling during the National Anthem is a great way to show you care some, but not enough to do anything substantial about it and try to solve the problem. It's great publicity too whether it's good or bad.

Kneeling is in no way going to solve the problem minorities have in America. This problem goes way deeper than that. LBJ attempted to solve the poverty problem by throwing money at the issue. This only made things worse. It was a huge bandage over a sepsis filled festering wound. The war on poverty is still a war. Derryck Green from project 21 articulated the core of the problem exquisitely.

“The disastrous effects of the government's management of anti-poverty initiatives are recognizable across racial lines, but the destruction is particularly evident in the black community. It effectively subsidized the dissolution of the black family by rendering the black man's role as a husband and a father irrelevant, invisible and — more specifically — disposable. The result has been several generations of blacks born into broken homes and broken communities experiencing social, moral and economic chaos. It fosters an inescapable dependency that primarily, and oftentimes solely, relies on government to sustain livelihoods.”

In fact, this kneeling business is gaining so much attention the shooting that happened in Tennessee barely made the papers or on-line publications. It's way back there, but it should be the front page. Emanuel K. Samson killed one and injured several others. They don't have his motive yet. Frankly, I find this much more important than kneeling during the National Anthem.

So, while there is all this craziness on both sides of the political spectrum about kneeling very few have acknowledged the elephant in the room. For those who want to kneel, what does their employment contract say about that? If the contract says stand during the National Anthem then you had better stand or you risk being fired. The first amendment doesn't protect you from termination of your job for not performing the duties you said you would. Your signature is right there. If I'm a math teacher, and I decide math is stupid and refuse to teach it anymore, the first amendment doesn't protect me either. I'm fired it's that simple.

This kneeling crap has caused a lot of drama. What team does the ringleader Colin Kaepernick play for these day? No team, he remains unemployed. His football playing skills do not outweigh the amount of drama he brings to a team. Coaches don't want that on their team. Fans don't come to a football game to watch politics that's not what they paid for. Now the NFL is paying a high price for allowing it to begin with.

Great! Be part of the solution! Not a lazy supporter who can only take the time to kneel. That solves nothing. There are a few companies out there to get started with

Project 21 leadership – tackling the war on poverty

500 startups – helps support minorities in the tech industry

Techstars – helps minority founders get their tech businesses up and running.

There are obviously more companies like these, but this can get the ball rolling for you.

If you actually want to solve the problem of the war on poverty and the unequal treatment of minorities I solute you. If you just want to kneel to bring more attention (good or bad) to yourself then that's your constitutional right as an American and you have the right to look like a jerk on camera. If you aren't backing that up with actionable solutions then you don't really care. This needs to end, there are bigger problems out there that merit so much more attention.

For those effected by the Tennessee shooting my deepest condolences to you and your family. I pray the Lord provides you peace through this trial.