The world has been impressed with the courage of American football players in taking a knee during the national anthem to bring attention to racial injustice. High school students have joined football players and cheerleaders, climate scientists have joined in, and now European soccer players have joined. There is a picture below of members of the Wuppertal Linguistics Department joining Tom Roeper in taking a knee after he gave a lecture there this week.
Here is a personal statement from Tom Roeper that he made at the time:
Scientists Take a Knee October 19, 2017 [see: #scientiststakeaknee]
“One reason that I made this trip to Germany is to study my family history.
My grandparents, Max and Gertrud Bondy started one of the first progressive schools in Europe, Schule Marienau. And my great-uncle Curt Bondy was one of the Jewish professors fired by the nazis in 1933 in Groningen. In 2015 they put up a plaque in Göttingen honoring those professors.
Why was there no response from the German academics in 1933? It is often said that they were anti-semitic too—but they why did they hire jewish professors in the first place? I think it has more to do with the inherent cowardice of the academic profession than with anti-semitism.
At the moment, something similar is happening in the US: Donald Trump is demanding that people stand up for the flag and the anthem and pledge allegiance to the flag. This has led to a movement of football players emphasizing Black Lives Matter and opposition to police brutality by not standing up for the national anthem. Trump says they should be fired.
It is also in effect a demand by Trump for forced overt patriotism. It is, I think, exactly like the law that everyone had to say “Heil Hitler” or risk being fired or jailed. This was very hard for my grandfather—who led his entire school—but he was afraid not to say “Heil Hitler” until they passed a law that it was illegal for jewish people to say it. These symbols are important ways of controlling people.
Pledging allegiance or standing before the national anthem demands an overt sign of loyalty that everyone can see every day. In schools throughout America, children of 8yrs have to pledge allegiance to the flag. What happens if they refuse? This is what my daughter did when she was 13years old. Right now, you are not kicked out of school, but that could change easily.
They ask for pledges of children—and Trump said that football players who do not stand for the national anthem should be fired,. Will they demand that children be kicked out of school for not doing it. They avoid demanding such things of professors. Now is the time—as it was in 1933—for academic people to demonstrate resistance. Professor Nicolayson from Hamburg, who studies German universities under the 3rd Reich, sent me a photo from a news report of German soccer players at a contest recently on Sept 28th, who “took a knee” in solidarity with American soccer players.
I think academic people should do that as well and there is great significance in German academic people expressing solidarity with Americans at this point. At #scientiststakeaknee, there are many pictures of scientists, including one group of 100 climate scientists, all taking a knee.
I will take a knee after this lecture and ask someone to photograph it—I invite any of you to join me who would like to show solidarity with Americans under attack for not showing coerced patriotism.”
Pictures below: Climate scientists, cheerleaders, German soccer players, various faculty members, Wuppertal linguistics department.
