{"id":2993,"date":"2018-11-19T15:32:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T20:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=2993"},"modified":"2018-12-18T12:05:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T17:05:53","slug":"stars-stripes-and-standpoints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=2993","title":{"rendered":"Stars, stripes, and standpoints"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Skyler Black
\n<\/strong>Newsprint
\nMercy HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 4, News Writing
\nNews Analysis<\/p>\n

Before rising to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, senior Kyana Donaldson scans the classroom. She sees several students\u2019 backs to her with hands over their hearts, reciting the pledge, but also notices some of her peers sitting in silence out of the corner of her eye.<\/p>\n

Donaldson becomes conflicted; she is eager to show her support for the national protest against racial injustice, but fears a negative reaction from her classmates and her teacher. Dating back to Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who knelt during the National Anthem in August 2016 in protest of racial injustice, the issue of kneeling for national anthem has been debated across the country.<\/p>\n

The discussion was further deepened when two NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals, locked arms and knelt together this past month during a game. Following the NFL teams\u2019 protest, many other football teams and prominent figures followed in suit shorty after. Donald Trump has recently expressed his thoughts on the matter, and the NFL organization has since requested that all players stand, even suspending Kaepernick from the league.<\/p>\n

The NFL\u2019s actions and the reactions of prominent organizations and political figures have also sparked many different reactions from the American people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first saw Kaepernick kneel, I was extremely shocked,\u201d Donaldson said. \u201cBut, when I realized what he was protesting, I greatly admired his bravery for standing up for what he believed in. I did not imagine that this issue would grow to be so controversial. It seems everyone has different outlooks on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many students, like Donaldson, firmly believe in the protest and strongly support it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good way to protest,\u201d said senior Hannah Blakey, Black Awareness for Student Education (B.A.S.E) club president. \u201c[If] people aren\u2019t getting upset and are okay with [the protest], then it is not really going to catch anyone\u2019s attention and you\u2019re not going to be able to change anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

While several students think the protest brings awareness to racial injustice, others feel the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that no matter what, you should be proud of your country, even if there are things you don\u2019t agree with in it,\u201d said junior Emma Pickett. \u201cYou\u2019re still able to voice your opinions. That\u2019s something you should be able to stand up for because the fact that you can state your negative opinions about your country just shows how much freedom you actually have.\u201d<\/p>\n

People also believe that this form of protest disrespects military service and the country\u2019s ideals.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople fight and die for that flag everyday,\u201d said Pickett, who has many family members affiliated with the military. \u201cYou should respect that because even if you don\u2019t agree with things that the country or government stands for or you don\u2019t agree with wars that are being fought overseas. You should still respect that there are people risking their lives every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, some students who are related to veterans see their service differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk to people who serve, especially in my family, it is because they love this country and fight to protect basic freedoms, including freedom of speech,\u201d said junior Alexis Dicke. \u201cMany believe that this form of protest is disrespecting those who have served for the flag, but those people did not only serve for the flag; they served to protect a country that has basic rights and freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although some argue that the protest overlooks the military\u2019s service, many who support kneeling during the National Anthem explain that it is not to disrespect veterans, but to call attention to police brutality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe protest is simply about the mistreatment of African Americans by law enforcement,\u201d said Donaldson. \u201cBut many people have turned it into an argument about honoring veterans. The form in which the football players [protest] shows no disrespect and has brought attention to the cause which was the overarching goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many students share their opinions outside of the halls of Mercy, but some classes and clubs tackle this particular topic and encourage students to express their opinions, such as Mercy\u2019s Contemporary Issues class.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall we were very respectful of the opinions shared,\u201d said senior Sarah Kullen, a student who taking Contemporary Issues. \u201cThose who believe they should be able to sit for the pledge [made] their main arguments. . . [and] those who said they should stand for the pledge argued [them], but we all respected each other in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kullen recalls their informative discussion, saying it was successful because the classroom atmosphere offered a place where one could share their ideas freely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that we had a very productive discussion in class, a very open and respectful discussion about differing opinions,\u201d said Mrs. Cindy Richter, who teaches the contemporary issues course. \u201cStudents have their own opinions formed, but they are open to listen to each other. At the end of the day, I don\u2019t have to change your mind and you don\u2019t have to change my mind and I think that that\u2019s kind of where we fall short as a society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other organizations, such as B.A.S.E and the Human Relations Council (HRC), also address these types of issues and are both going to touch on the National Anthem ordeal in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cHRC is there to help spread diversity, relieve racial tensions and to try to deal with discrimination in the school, so we will definitely be talking about the issue in our upcoming meetings,\u201d said sophomore Elise Sikora, an HRC representative.<\/p>\n

Amidst opposing viewpoints, Donaldson speaks for many when she stresses the importance of respecting each other\u2019s opinions about such a controversial issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I feel strongly about this topic, I respect other\u2019s views, even if they conflict with mine,\u201d said Donaldson. \u201cI think everyone should listen to each other\u2019s views and respect them as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Skyler Black Newsprint Mercy HS 1st Place Division 4, News Writing News Analysis Before rising to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, senior Kyana Donaldson scans the classroom. She sees several students\u2019 backs to her with hands over their hearts, reciting the pledge, but also notices some of her peers sitting in silence out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[53,4],"tags":[151,23],"class_list":["post-2993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-newsanalysis","category-nw","tag-2017-18","tag-division4","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jaimie Bozack","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=7"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-Mh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}