Gwendolyn Berry, left, third place, looks on during the playing of the national anthem with DeAnna Price, center, first place, and Brooke Andersen, second place, on the podium after the Women’s Hammer Throw final on day nine of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 26, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon.
https://www.theroot.com/behold-the-queen-1847184892?utm_campaign=The%20Root&utm_content=1624904406&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR09c2uKAypdzzhys8HW6ueskZsWltGzbssTfqQnZqq6nxoZ1oxt0pB_z3YBehold the QueenU.S. Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry will neither bend nor break to the whims of white supremacy.
As a former member of the United States Air Force, I’m often asked for my opinion on Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the national anthem. I’m also told that I’m supposed to be infuriated that Kap “disrespected” me as a military veteran, even though I have vivid memories of being spit on and called a black while in uniform by people who look nothing like him—which only happened after I returned to American soil after defending this racist-ass country in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
I can also recall the countless times I’ve been treated like absolute shit by the same government that facilitated my enlistment in the first place and the subsequent years I’ve spent battling both physical and psychological ailments as a byproduct of my “sacrifice.” So when I hear people bitch and moan about the sanctity of the American flag or express outrage at the national anthem being “violated,” my response is typically the same: “Yeah, you can miss me entirely with that bullshit.”
What most people don’t know, or don’t pay close enough attention to realize, is that since leaving the military in 2003, I’ve never recited the national anthem. I don’t put my hand on my heart when it’s playing, either. Frankly, I find Francis Scott Key’s magnum opus repulsive. And not solely because of its racist origins, but because my unique life experiences, as well as those of countless others, have proven it to be a complete and utter lie.
Ask Maj. General Michael C. Thompson, who I watched—with my own two eyes—apologize to survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre for the National Guard’s inaction during one of the most heinous examples of racially motivated violence in the history of this country.
