Mel Hopkins

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/heres-how-nate-boyer-got-colin-kaepernick-to-go-from-sitting-to-kneeling/ Although this feels like an update - here's a new part to the story circulating on social media "For all those who care enough to understand: Did you know this? Aug 14, 2016- Colin Kaepernick sits for the national anthem.....and no one noticed. Aug 20th, 2016- Colin again sits, and again, no one noticed. Aug 26th, 2016- Colin sits and this time he is met with a level of vitriol unseen against an athlete. Even the future President of the United States took shots at him while on the campaign trail. Colin went on to explain his protest had NOTHING to with the military, but he felt it hard to stand for a flag that didn't treat people of color fairly. Then on on Aug 30th, 2016 Nate Boyer, a former Army Green Beret turned NFL long snapper, penned an open letter to Colin in the Army Times. In it he expressed how Colin's sitting affected him. Then a strange thing happened. Colin was able to do what most Americans to date have not... He listened. In his letter Mr. Boyer writes: "I’m not judging you for standing up for what you believe in. It’s your inalienable right. What you are doing takes a lot of courage, and I’d be lying if I said I knew what it was like to walk around in your shoes. I’ve never had to deal with prejudice because of the color of my skin, and for me to say I can relate to what you’ve gone through is as ignorant as someone who’s never been in a combat zone telling me they understand what it’s like to go to war. Even though my initial reaction to your protest was one of anger, I’m trying to listen to what you’re saying and why you’re doing it." Mr. Boyer goes on to write "There are already plenty people fighting fire with fire, and it’s just not helping anyone or anything. So I’m just going to keep listening, with an open mind. I look forward to the day you're inspired to once again stand during our national anthem. I'll be standing right there next to you." Empathy and understanding was shown by Mr. Boyer.........and Mr. Kaepernick reciprocated. Colin invited Nate to San Diego where the two had a 90 minute discussion and Nate proposed Colin kneel instead of sit. But why kneel? In a military funeral, after the flag is taken off the casket of the fallen military member, it is smartly folded 13 times and then presented to the parents, spouse or child of the fallen member by a fellow service member while KNEELING. The two decided that kneeling for the flag would symbolize his reverence for those that paid the ultimate sacrifice while still allowing Colin to peacefully protest the injustices he saw. Empathy, not zealotry under the guise of patriotism, is the only way meaningful discussion can be had. Mr. Kaepernick listened to all of you that say he disrespects the military and extended an olive branch to find a peace. When will America listen to him?"

Some black women never lost their agency and others reclaimed theirs when slavery ended. As I've written, corporations only dictate a dress code for their offices. You deciding a standard for black women - means you want them to lose their agency. I'm not understanding why you're having a difficult time with this concept. Black women not dressing to fit your standards, is your personal problem. As for 44 % work force vs labor participation; OK very good. At least you did your own digging for a change, even though I supplied the data. It could be 44% as I read initially but for now we've both used DOL stats so we're beholden to their interpretation of the figures. However, I added the workforce statistic, the voting statistic, (both that you picked apart and removed the focus of my argument) and the business ownership statistic to make the point that black women are doing a lot of things besides entertainment. You (or was it educate2 empower) chose to label all black women by one woman and what she wears at her workplace. Seriously, Troy, the fact that you don't label black men by one black male entertainer is another reason why I take issue with this particular rant.

@Troy, You're kidding right? Naive? Believing corporations will not act in its own interest is akin to believing in good fairies. | By now you should know, I'm from the camp of personal responsibility. People are simply acting on their own desires. Someone can force you to do something, but there's no amount of propaganda that will make you do what you don't want to. For example, where's the big ad campaign /propaganda machine pushing opioids? Now t's news and states are filing lawsuits against big Pharma, but somewhere along the chain there was information pull activity- which just shows people want what they want. So blame platforms and absolve people if that's makes you feel better. But here in the U.S. people have a sense of agency and they choose their lives

@Troy I never miss your point. I refute it. Now unless you provide the data to refute my assertion about black women is wrong then it stands. The data is available, I suggest you get to work. In the meantime, If you look at your own words, you've attempted to decide how the black community should look but fail to recognize that is your personal standard. You don't get to define black culture, no one does. And if for some reason that power was bestowed upon you, black culture isn't a monolith. We're not uniformed and never have been - we're a mosaic and that's always been our strength. However, for one who assails against corporate america for dressing emcees, you "doth protest too much, methinks" . You've decided that corporate america is dressing emcees and then trotting them out on stage to represent black america. First of all when was black america ever defined by its entertainers. Maybe other groups tried to copy, steal and most definitely mutilate our talents but black people have never defined our culture by our entertainers... Well not until you, that is. But the rest of us are entertained by entertainers in their costumes. By your own admission you stated you don't know much about the music business. From your words, I can tell you know even less about stylists and the people who hire them. It is rarely the record labels. Still at the crux of your argument, is this offensive habit you have of denying women their agency. Now I understand why. You prefer to decide how women dress but since you're powerless -you place the blame on corporate america, in an effort to usurp their imagined power. Still, even if you were able to accomplish that feat... your next obstacle would be black women. Since African American women now head more than 1.5 million businesses throughout the U.S with over $42 billion in sales and $ 7.7 billion in payroll - 2015 U.S. Census Survey of Business owners - it's clear black women are deciding their own fate - and that includes how they dress themselves.

This is what I'm talking about being too lazy... Troy, when in doubt, research!!! And I don't care what other people "think" of us... I care about what we are doing. And what is your problem with how women dress? You do realize women can wear anything they want to wear. If they choose to wear a head-to-toe burqa or a floss between the butt - it's their choice, AND no one gets a vote.

Oh now I see, this was personal. @Troy you let those memes get to you... Those memes didn't faze me anymore than campaign attack ads do on the radio - or tv.... It's just media and campaigning. I've been following Hillary since the late 80s... if you or anyone isn't aware of candidates' background and that's your first introduction then of course those memes might work - but we can't blame social media for our own ignorance. On the very same internet, anyone can query and research the background of the candidate, sponsored legislation and just about anything . Privacy is a thing of the past for you, me but especially anyone running for office. It's on us to compile information on those we chose to elect. Again facebook isn't the problem - we are. No one deserves absolution for ignorance. If members of the electorate, especially the middle class, get turned off for something as simple as casting a vote - then we all suffer - but those too lazy to cast a ballot are responsible for the disaster that we have today. Sorry facebook is not blame. Lazy ass people are.

Of course it is. But the point is 94% of black women WHO VOTED... voted for Hillary .... Therefore trolls or facebook or any social media have no affect on BLACK WOMEN WHO VOTE

Beautiful The way you write @Cynique leaves me verklempt . Every. Time. 94% of black women who voted, voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton. AND IF NOT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, you, by your own admission @Troy , wouldn't have voted in the last election. Thank you @Cynique - Troy admitted that you were the one who inspired him to go out and vote.

Yet 94% black women still voted for HRC... So while trolls may fool fools, it isn't fool-proof. Trolls are like a virus - if you're immune-system is strong (i.e., mentally strong) you can't become infected. Only a weakened immune system will be infected.

I wish I could claim it but daily show writers got all of that lol

POWER! "It's wrong to do it in the streets, It's wrong to do it in a tweet, You cannot do it on the field .. You cannot do it if you've kneeled. And don't do it if you're rich, You ungrateful sonofabitch. Because there's one things that's a fact. You cannot protest if you're black" =

I don't understand the point. How does Cardi b have anything to do with the state of Black American women or black women/girls empowerment? I remember posting the stats of Black American women here in this forum recently. Here in America, Black women make up 44 percent of the labor force. They head their own households, 1.5 million black women are business owners, 88 of those are start-up tech firms. Black women are homeowners, underpaid, and medically under serve to name a few stats. The greatest achievement of black women is they are the most formally educated group in America as of 2016...oh and 94 percent of the black women tried to save America from Pumpkinhead. So, I know, I'm missing the correlation here. What is the point about Cardi b having the number 1 recording in the U.S? It's a musical recording not the state of the world today. Or unless I missed it and we are using Future or Kanye as a role model as the standard to raise our children and a measuring stick for the state of black men?

@Cynique your quote reminds me of how some black men dismissed some of President Obama's work... If I were of age during the civil rights movement - I bet I would have heard a certain kind of black man poo-poo Martin Luther King, Jr, and Malcolm X too . Now, I expect certain types of black men to be a distraction to progress. They are like white women who voted for Trump or against Hillary. For them, as long as the status quo is protected no one will expect them to achieve anything. The best thing, though is those types may delay progress but they will eventually get run over by it.

Now I understand "Climate Change"! We're probably packed up in a storage container!

My most-quoted and referenced movie is The Wizard of Oz. The unmasking of the wizard shown to be bumbling-coot of a con artist is my favorite part. I read, recently, stadium sports was used to amp up the revelry for war. In fact, according to the Washington Post the anthem tradition allegedly began in Chicago before the NFL was founded. Meanwhile, Senate just passed a $700 billion in NDAA (New York Times Article) funding for the war machine - that is America... A bended knee at the military function, commonly known as NFL match-ups , is like having a traitor in their midst. See, Colin Kaepernick, being half-white and raised in a white household understands the war-related symbolism. He simply dog-whistled the Jingos and like wounded dogs, they are howling. The rest of us battle-weary Americans are waking from our poppy-field slumber (opioid crisis, my ass) and are no longer under the influence of the Powers-that-Be and their spells. We see you, WH Resident 45*. We see clearly the whole damn theatre.

@DelanoI was going to ask what "question" but then I listened to the video. I don't currently have any questions plaguing me at this time. Thank you for the invite. Oh by the way, I'm squeamish and tend to be protective of sharing my body parts for record. I had my mtDNA tested once. Thank goodness that facility isn't holding it hostage like its their property such as reported about ancestry and 23 and me.

Bravo @Cynique ! But there is some wealth that can be brought into the black community. When I was married I was a stay-at-home mom until I couldn't take it anymore. But while I was at home, I managed the money and I spent the money in our community. At the time, we were living in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn before we moved out of state. My daughters are heirs to their "white" fathers estate. Not only do they benefit from his wealth now; he is preparing them to care for his estate when he dies. When black women marry white men, the wealth is usually managed by black women ( This is true for all women since women manage the purse in the home) and we keep the money in our community - at least when we can. The reverse isn't necessarily true. Wait, I do remember, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie frequented a lot of black establishments, especially hair care spots when they adopted their ethiopian daughter Zahara. But I digress. Speaking from experience mixed with the fact that women control 70 - 80 % consumer spending; when black women marry white men , the black community benefits from the union.

Thank you for the invitation @Delano ! I'm still working on my own project of know thy self . How can your project help me with my quest?

@Del, now that's some food for thought! Exploit the common man would be fine, but can she get paid for her contribution? Everyone works to advance the system -so can she some some severance pay before everyone advances to the next level?

I see the tree and the serpent (s) golden ratio (Phi), owl and for some reason I also see a peacock feather... It feels like If I look at too long I'll become one with it . One more thing, many of those symbols are allegedly related to worshiping the Canaanite's sun god.

I hate when that happens... fortunately, for us our brains process information extremely fast.

@Troy , thank you for this response - I agree technology is creating a digital divide - and many are not afforded the opportunity to capture the equity they are owed.

Except @Troy, it's happening now - did you forget the story about big data and 45*s election win? That's not even where it begins or ends. This is why I've asked are we being left behind again. - And you, the second most geekiest person I know when it comes to statistics - and you blow off my question with a sentence. As if I'm speaking about some sci-fi future shock. Predictive analytics and modeling are being used at corporations determining how long you should spend on hold - to whether you'll get that loan - to whether you will donate to a worthy cause and how much you'll spend. Programs ARE making it "possible for humans to analyze the unimaginably large volumes of data being produced." Like you wrote, no human could pour through the all that data but computers can and are doing it Humans need not apply! So those "exponentially fast-growing companies that leverage technology and require less employees but those who are tech-savvy" are way ahead of us ...AGAIN

@Cynique, I agree with a most of what you've written except this part. Your voice is the one that was most effective on those steering committees. From working on economic development projects in the past, it was the naysayers who brought the reality to table. The cockeyed optimists weren't blind-sided when the obstacles made an appearance and we were ready to handle them. But it does take money, resources and a lot of time to create and execute an economic plan... I'm not sure why Pioneer thinks we have the time or even the desire to work on a project of that magnitude. And it would only be a system within the system - there's one man who's been trying to create a new economy since 1940s and the powers that be have taken his altruistic idea and created a sharing economy - where one group gets all the money and everyone else gets scraps... So no, I'm good with working with the system we have.

@Troy, Oh yes, I know of that program - I never signed with it - but the book is only available on kindle period. I thought it was a print book. It's good the person is advertising - the more effort s/he puts into selling her/his book - the less dependent they will be on amazon in the future.