Dear White America

To whom it may concern:

You can't bully Black America into respecting something (the flag and the Anthem) that has never respected us, and here's why.

On December 24, 1865, in Pulaski, TN, a group of Confederate veterans convened to form a secret society, christened the "Ku Klux Klan."

The Klan's growth was rapid, starting out as a secret social fraternity and expanding to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government’s progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South, specifically policies that elevated the rights of the African American population.

The hallmark of the KKK has always been the American Flag and an exclusive, partisan pseudo patriotism that has never included African Americans.

Fast forward to 2017; the KKK is still in business (not the same murderous gang as before, but their concepts, practices, and views are exactly as they were 152 years ago) and the major societal conundrum of the 21st century continues to be the "problem of the color line."

The resistance of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry during bombardment by the Royal Navy inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the poem (September 14, 1814) "Defence of Fort McHenry", which later became the lyrics for "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States of America.

Key was inspired by the large American flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort during the American 'victory'. The third stanza of the poem was written out of spite because of the Black soldiers (slaves) who joined British forces based on the promise of freedom. That promise was kept by the British.

Here's the third verse of the Anthem that you will not hear on Sunday:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

On December 24, 1814, The Treaty of Ghent was signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium, ending the War of 1812. By terms of the treaty, all conquered territory was to be returned, and commissions were planned to settle the boundary of the United States and Canada.

What the history books do not tell us is that incredulously, the United States of America asked the British for their "property" back. Those slaves that joined forces with your country, who are now free men, "we want our property back!" Fortunately, Great Britain told America to 'fuck off'! 

On April 15, 1947, 28-year-old Jackie Robinson made his Major League Baseball debut with the Dodgers, against the Boston Braves, in front of more than 25,000 spectators at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. Robinson wrote in his autobiography that he couldn't sing the anthem or salute the flag because "I know that I am a black man in a white world."

The aforementioned facts are still applicable today. The KKK is still in business and their agenda has not changed. White nationalist leader David Duke on August 15, 2017 thanked President Trump for blaming violence in Charlottesville, Va., on the "alt-left." Duke thanked Trump for his "honesty & courage" in the following tweet: 

"Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists..."

What the American flag and the Star Spangled Banner symbolize, has not changed. Most men, black or white, enlist in the armed forces for financial reasons, no more no less. Only a handful of African American men enlist for patriotic reasons. Some take the military plunge because it has become a family tradition, but patriotism is rarely the reason a black man chooses to fight abroad.

We (black folks) love America, but America has never loved us back. Never! At every turn we have been disenfranchised, imprisoned, disrespected, humiliated, scoffed, laughed at, and murdered by the millions, yet in spite of it all, we still try to fit in, we still make the effort to be a part of this nation. We're like the 'ugly duckling', we're the Cinderella of all races, and the slipper doesn't fit. At the rate we're going, the division of the Black and White Race, it will never fit.

Laws have been passed in an attempt to level the playing field, to allow people of color to join exclusive 'all-white' clubs and schools, but one's heart cannot be legislated. And that's the problem.

Here's the beauty of everything that has been going on for the last 200 years.

1. Racial superiority can be traced back to dates in history. The time for European domination is thankfully about to run its course. 
2. Karma and the universal law of 'Cause and Effect' is as applicable to groups and nations as it is to individuals. Collectively, you will reap what you have sown - and that is a universal, not a religious guideline.
3. If you are an ardent 'believer' in the Christian "reward and punishment system," you'd better hope none of it is true because y'all's evil asses (not all white folks are bad) will be eternally roasting in HELL.
4. Last but not least, Martin Luther King Jr. stated, "I have lived these last few years [last 200 years for black folks] with the conviction that unearned suffering is redemptive." 

Another word for redemptive is compensatory, "serving to compensate, as for loss, lack, or injury." You didn't give us our "40 Acres and a Mule," you didn't give us reparations for slavery, but you have no say in the moral compensation, no say in the advancement and maturation of our souls, which is extremely more valuable than any form of financial honorarium.