A group of city officials made headlines in Ann Arbor Michigan this week when they observed the National Anthem by taking a knee. The politicians kneeled before a City Council meeting, and believe that they made the right choice.
"We haven't lived up to those words of the pledge. We haven't lived up to the ideals that our flag is calling us to, and so let's take a moment to reflect on that," Councilman Chuck Warpehoski says of his decision to kneel. In a message posted to Warpehoski's blog he characterized his actions as "an act of attention, of concern, and out of respect."
Of the eleven member council, Warpehoski was one of four who demonstrated. They were mobilized by third-term member Sumi Kailasapathy, who migrated to the U.S. as a refugee of the Sri Lankan war. Kailasapathy has worked as a professor and public accountant, but despite the success that her opportunities in the U.S. have afforded her, she says she recognizes the inequality people face in the nation every day. To her determination, using the anthem to raise concerns over the current state of affairs doesn't translate into disrespect.
"My patriotism will continue by challenging the status quo," she told a local Ann Arbor news outlet.
Source: blacksportsonline.com
