Fred Weinberg: Anthems, Agitators and the American Dream
The long, slow apparent cave of American institutions to fascist attempts to force mindless change has continued with none other than the National Football League.
This group of congressionally protected (from antitrust issues) white billionaires has decided it makes economic sense to desecrate both our flag and our national anthem to curry favor with some black players who they have made into multimillionaires.
Yep. They are going to play what the NAACP calls the “black national anthem.”
But wait. This is the United States of America. We only have one national anthem. It was written by Francis Scott Key and it’s called “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And when some moron decides to desecrate that song, all I can think is that sound you are hearing is Whitney Houston turning over in her grave. When Houston, a proud black American woman, sang the song before the 1991 Super Bowl, it turned into a best seller. Yes, they released it as a single. The New Yorker’s Cinque Henderson put it like this:
“Houston unlocked that iron door for black people and helped make the song a part of our cultural patrimony, too. It was the most influential performance of a national song since Marian Anderson sang ‘My Country, ’Tis of Thee’ on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the eve of the Second World War. Now when we listen to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ it is the echo of Houston’s voice we hear. In the instant of her singing, a quarter century ago, Houston changed what it sounded like to be American. For this, she should be duly remembered.”
Black Americans comprise about 13 percent of our population. Would 13 percent of our population like to secede? Gee. We fought a war in the mid-1800s to liberate that 13 percent. I’m getting tired of being told by an amorphous group of guilty white liberals and race-baiting poverty pimps that I’m a “racist” if I (insert crime here).
Want an example of that?
The official mission statement of Black Lives Matter says: “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.”
In short, it’s in favor of the nearly 75 percent of children born out of wedlock that has bought about the violence in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. And the movement doesn’t think the lack of two-parent households plays any part in the problems of inner-city black Americans.
Seriously?
It all gets down to a bumper sticker I used to like so much I just had 10,000 of them made for my radio network.
“America: Love It or Leave It.”
I’ve traveled to many places around the world. I’ve seen how other people live. Even in other “democracies.”
I can’t think of any place I’d rather live — flaws and all — than the United States of America.
Do we have “systemic racism” here? Yes. From people of all races. That’s because you cannot pass and enforce a law that says you have to be nice to each other. And no amount of virtue signaling, no amount of shaming or finger-pointing from the popular media, will make it so.
What we also have here is systemic opportunity. But if you want it, you have to take it and make it yours. We call it the American dream.
If you sit around moaning and complaining (see Seattle, New York, Chicago and other Democrat-controlled urban areas) nobody is going to go out of his or her way to help you. What the people in the power structure will do is to try and make you dependent on their version of government in exchange for your vote.
They will pander to you (the black national anthem, as an example) and they will make it seem that they are capitulating to your demands (defund the police), but in the long term, nothing will actually happen because — no matter what they tell you — they cannot retain control for themselves if they make all of the changes you are demanding.
In fact, the more outrageous your demands, the more likely they are going to verbally support you. Because the more outrageous the demands, the less likely anything will actually happen, but they will be able to feel good about themselves and their so-called power nonetheless.
Follow the money.
If the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians conclude that changing the teams’ names won’t cost them much, it will happen.
If, on the other hand, defunding the police in major cities will bring federal civil rights litigation, they will find a way to walk it back.
These people — the left-wing establishment — think they have power, and they are certainly not giving it to the likes of you.
Grow up, get a job, get an education and seize the American dream. Moaning and complaining never got anybody anywhere.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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