What we do not stand up for

Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid
bent their knees
while others stood
for the national anthem
at a football game,
reminding us how many things
American
we do not stand up for.

On this Labor Day how about
justice for workers –
a living wage, workplace safety,
and the right to collective bargaining?
There’s rarely any standing for that.

How about care for veterans
returning from service for this country
needing medical treatment
psychological services,
jobs, education?
How about voting rights?
How about welcome to the world’s
poor and endangered?

Many who pop up at ballpark or stadium
do not rise to honor those.

All people are created equal –
is the text of
the Declaration of Independence,
the Fourteenth Amendment,
and Black Lives Matter.

Let us get out of the bleachers.
Colin Kaepernick takes us to
the first down,
but the rest of us have goal to go.