Cmdr. Theodore Johnson:
This ability to hold a love of country at the same time as a sort of critique of the country together, we sort of — sort of played out on a football field for my family one Friday evening.
One of my sons was playing football, kneeled during the national anthem. I'm a retired Navy guy. I was standing at attention during the national anthem. And, of course, there were some parents around that didn't like the fact that my kid was kneeling. And I could tell. It was — it was pretty audible and clear.
After the anthem finishes, the flag that the team carries out had sort of tumbled to the ground. And I ran down and picked it up and posted it back up. And the same folks that were making remarks about my kid kneeling sort of stepped into the aisle to thank me for posting the flag up for them, for respecting the flag.
And, in that moment, my family was still recognizing a pride in country through my sort of standing at attention and a reckoning that the country needs, especially around the question of race, that my son was protesting during the anthem.
And so that seems to be a common strain, not just for me and my family, but for lots of Americans, especially Black Americans, who have served in every war the country has ever had, and yet returned from war to a nation that didn't appreciate them, that didn't treat them as full citizens, that didn't treat them as equal.
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