Americans,
Speak Up!
Stand Up
For Your Country!
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Source: AP Photo/Kevin Hagen
This land is my land; this land is your land. This land is not Commie land.
But you wouldn't know it if you looked at us this past week. It sure looks like we've been kneeling to mobs, kneeling to communist demands, glorifying looters and felons and their audacious claims of entitlement. We have allowed a leftist political movement to change history and force-feed the lie of "racist policing." Canceling police and investing in lawlessness is all the rage these days.
Yet, as flames of hate for America engulf our cities, Americans appear to have hit their own mute buttons. Crickets, crickets everywhere.
Why so quiet?
Americans are silent because they are afraid. Afraid of social and employment repercussions for having a divergent opinion from the mob. Some who disagree with the mob even end up joining the mob because they are afraid to lose their place in society. How many zombies out there are faking it?
"I'm afraid to say anything," one American said to me. "I don't want to lose my job," said another. "I have some different opinions than the narrative being forced on society right now. If spoken, I will instantly be called [racist]," said a third. "It's designed to shut down the conversation and intimidate. And it is working," this man concluded. And so on and so forth, these Americans are keeping their opinions to themselves, terrified of social justice warriors looting their lives if they dare dissent. "What's the point? No one is interested in listening or having a discussion. You either 100% agree, or you are a monster," a woman exclaimed.
These publicly-silent American men and women are all employed and afraid. And they're not wrong to fear repercussion for thought disparity. Many people have already lost their jobs when there was even a hint of disagreement with the Black victimization social narrative. The social stigma applies to dissenters of all creeds and colors. More than anyone, conservative Black friends fear the wrath of their communities when they disagree with any part of the protests or narrative. Discussions in U.S. society have come to a tragic halt because of the cancel culture that swallowed us whole: Americans have stopped speaking and started kneeling.
This week alone: A basketball broadcaster was fired for tweeting "ALL LIVES MATTER." A soccer player issued an apology on behalf of his wife and vowed to silence her dissenting opinions moving forward. A football player was bullied into issuing a boiler-plate apology for defending the American flag that represents the freedoms the American people fought to protect. For reference, he beautifully said, "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America," and described thinking about all that has been sacrificed to make this country what it is today. These were just the newsworthy silences. How many Americans were left unemployed that you will never read about?
Silence became a sign of complacency with "white supremacy." Companiesstarted feeling pressure to support BLM. It became a "you're with us or against us" scenario. Even Nickelodeon decided to tell kids that they need to fight for BLM. Yet none of them have called out the looting that has been taking place in their businesses for over a week straight. But while larger companies can bear the losses, smaller mom and pop shops cannot. It appears not many are standing up on their behalf, in fear of being labeled a "white supremacist" or "racist" by the BML movement and society that has accepted them unquestioningly.
The BLM movement has been emboldened by the death of George Floyd. Irrespective of the veracity of BLM claims, all Americans were horrified to watch Floyd die. The emotions from viewing the video have yielded blind credence to the assertion that this happens nonstop. In reality, this is a false narrative born of politics.
Central BLM politics are socialist in nature, which brings us to Antifa.
Let's be clear: Antifa is an organized and funded group of anti-American socialist radicals. Don't buy into the anti-Fascist marketing ploy; you're too smart for bait and switch tactics. Fascists were socialists. Nazis were socialists. (Everyone your grandparents fought - were socialists.) It is because the BLM movement is organized and driven by socialists that the joinder of the two groups was so smooth. The flames that raged through 30 American cities weren't sparked by George Floyd; they were burning long before. Floyd's death created an opportunity and an excuse - a cover for malicious destruction devised long before.
BLM support, nevertheless, has become a social requirement, just as The 1619 Project became an educational requirement. Why? Because Americans are cowering, not questioning. When the slightest hint of opposition yields a loss of income and social stature, why speak up?
The result has been police officers apologizing on their knees for things they did not do, soldiers kneeling for mobs, and Americans from all sides mourning the death of a convicted felon who served time for robbing a woman in her home at gunpoint. Multiple police officers have been killed, injured, and threatened. Meanwhile, thin blue line stickers are disappearing from cars, leftist politicians are calling to "defund the police," and BLM is threatening an armed "war on police."
Americans, listen up: It's okay to dislike both Floyd and the arresting officers. It's okay to be open to the possibility that the officers might be absolved of criminal wrongdoing. It's okay to question BLM's narratives. It's okay to disagree with socialism. It's okay to like police officers. It's okay not to kneel.
Americans! You're giving in to political peer pressure! Stop!
Look in the mirror. You're an American. A free man, a free woman. You are living in a country that was built on ideas of freedom of speech and freedom from oppression. Stop letting political movements impose oppression and speech restrictions on you. Get up and speak up! Stand up for yourself and for your country. Stop feeling displaced guilt. Stop acting pusillanimously. Stop letting your cities burn.
You live in a country that is the least racist country in the world (just travel and you'll agree). If you want to make it better, do that, but do it right.
If you continue to cower, you will lose your country. Remember those socialists, Antifa? Their goal is to overtake our government and replace it. It's a felony, but I haven't seen any charges.
You are not as alone as you think. 71% of Americans agree with using the National Guard to assist police in managing these "protests." Do you think these Americans feel the need for National Guard because they believe the protests are peaceful, or because the converse is true? 58% even support using the U.S. Military to supplement local police. It is clear that in reality, these "protests" do not have unyielding support, and many are seeing them as excuses for violent attacks and a new form of race riots. Indeed, Americans are standing up for themselves, just less vociferously than the leftists screaming at them.
So get off your knees. You didn't do anything. You're not a "white supremacist" just because you are an American. You are not a "white supremacist" just because you are a police officer (especially when you're a Black police officer). These are all scare tactics used to control good people. You can speak your mind and ask questions, and not only is it okay to do so but it's your American entitlement to do so.
Don't kneel. Stand proud. You're an American.