in the back<\/em>. The official narrative is the officer \u201cfeared for his safety\u201d (where have we heard that before) and Harmon turned toward the officers with a knife, but the body camera footage does not back up that claim. Still, the officer involved will not face criminal charges, as announced on Oct. 5 by the Salt Lake City district attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHarmon should have gone to jail that night, not the morgue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So again, that\u2019s why many are refusing to stand for a song that doesn\u2019t stand for them. And let\u2019s make it plain, the \u201cStar Spangled Banner\u201d was written by a racist slave owner and a verse written (but not recited) revels in the death of Blacks who fought against their former captors in the War of 1812. Frances Scott Key, author of the national anthem, said of Blacks they were, \u201ca distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, yeah, I\u2019m not too keen of that whole \u201cStar Spangled Banner\u201d thing. Give me \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d any day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But beyond the brutality; beyond the killings, let\u2019s explore the other reasons we kneel, as illustrated by artist Don Walker on this week\u2019s cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. unemployment rate for whites is 3.7 percent, yet the Black unemployment rate is 7.3 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2017). The U.S. graduation rate for whites is 87.3 percent compared to 72.5 percent for Blacks (\u201cThe Journal of Blacks in Higher Education\u201d). The U.S. home ownership rate is 71.9 percent for whites but just 41.3 percent for Blacks (Trulia, third-quarter 2016 national data). According to U.S. Census Bureau, 22 percent of Black people live in poverty, compared to 8.8 percent of whites. A gaping disparity, the median income for whites is $62,950 to just $36,898 for Blacks (U.S. Census Bureau). Overall Blacks are incarcerated five times<\/em> more than whites. In some states, it is 10 times more frequent; this according to the Prison Policy Initiative. The Black infant mortality rate is two times higher than the white rate (National Vital Statistics).<\/p>\n\n\n\nBlacks are 2.5 times as likely as whites to be shot and killed by police (Washington Post<\/em>). Blacks are 2.5 times as likely as whites to be shot and killed by police.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nSo again, what was the question? Oh yeah, you were wondering why we are taking to our knees. Well there you have it in black and white \u2026 and in red, white and blue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To quote the title of the movie and Netflix series, \u201cDear White People \u2026\u201d We see it on social media, we hear it in the stands of sporting events, we hear it while taking to the streets. \u201cWhat are \u2018you people\u2019 so upset about?\u201d Well, quite frankly, \u201cus people\u201d are upset about a lot. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[524,2795,2794],"class_list":["post-4474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-colin-kaepernick","tag-netflix","tag-patrick-harmon","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-3-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4476,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions\/4476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![<\/a>Most recently it was Patrick Harmon whose killing went unpunished. Harmon, was stopped Aug. 13 in Salt Lake City for a bicycling infraction, when he was killed. Yes, you read right, a bicycling infraction. <\/em>Admittedly, Harmon attempted to run away on foot from officers, but many are questioning why he was shot three times \u2026 in the back<\/em>. The official narrative is the officer \u201cfeared for his safety\u201d (where have we heard that before) and Harmon turned toward the officers with a knife, but the body camera footage does not back up that claim. Still, the officer involved will not face criminal charges, as announced on Oct. 5 by the Salt Lake City district attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHarmon should have gone to jail that night, not the morgue.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo again, that\u2019s why many are refusing to stand for a song that doesn\u2019t stand for them. And let\u2019s make it plain, the \u201cStar Spangled Banner\u201d was written by a racist slave owner and a verse written (but not recited) revels in the death of Blacks who fought against their former captors in the War of 1812. Frances Scott Key, author of the national anthem, said of Blacks they were, \u201ca distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, yeah, I\u2019m not too keen of that whole \u201cStar Spangled Banner\u201d thing. Give me \u201cLift Every Voice and Sing\u201d any day. <\/p>\n\n\n\nBut beyond the brutality; beyond the killings, let\u2019s explore the other reasons we kneel, as illustrated by artist Don Walker on this week\u2019s cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe U.S. unemployment rate for whites is 3.7 percent, yet the Black unemployment rate is 7.3 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2017). The U.S. graduation rate for whites is 87.3 percent compared to 72.5 percent for Blacks (\u201cThe Journal of Blacks in Higher Education\u201d). The U.S. home ownership rate is 71.9 percent for whites but just 41.3 percent for Blacks (Trulia, third-quarter 2016 national data). According to U.S. Census Bureau, 22 percent of Black people live in poverty, compared to 8.8 percent of whites. A gaping disparity, the median income for whites is $62,950 to just $36,898 for Blacks (U.S. Census Bureau). Overall Blacks are incarcerated five times<\/em> more than whites. In some states, it is 10 times more frequent; this according to the Prison Policy Initiative. The Black infant mortality rate is two times higher than the white rate (National Vital Statistics).<\/p>\n\n\n\nBlacks are 2.5 times as likely as whites to be shot and killed by police (Washington Post<\/em>). Blacks are 2.5 times as likely as whites to be shot and killed by police.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nSo again, what was the question? Oh yeah, you were wondering why we are taking to our knees. Well there you have it in black and white \u2026 and in red, white and blue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To quote the title of the movie and Netflix series, \u201cDear White People \u2026\u201d We see it on social media, we hear it in the stands of sporting events, we hear it while taking to the streets. \u201cWhat are \u2018you people\u2019 so upset about?\u201d Well, quite frankly, \u201cus people\u201d are upset about a lot. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[524,2795,2794],"class_list":["post-4474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-colin-kaepernick","tag-netflix","tag-patrick-harmon","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-3-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4476,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4474\/revisions\/4476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.insightnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/football3-web.jpg\"){kind=link}