Last August, when then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick elected to sit during the Nation Anthem he made it explicitly clear as to what and why he was protesting.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder” said Kaepernick when he explained why he made the decision to protest.
Although it is clear as to why he protest people immediately tried to discredit his protest by saying that Kaepernick was being disrespectful to the United States military.
What did Kaepernick do to refute that? He met with former U.S. military veteran Nate Boyer to discuss how it is that he can do his protest in a manner that is deemed “respectful” to military veterans.
From then on Kaepernick began to kneel in protest of the anthem. He also was not alone in protest as several players would also begin to protest alongside Kaepernick including most notably his former 49ers teammate Eric Reid and Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins. Although some players joined Kaepernick, many players, former players, and NFL analysts criticized Kaepernick’s protest those include Ray Lewis and Jim Brown among others.
Now let’s transition a year later where now Kaepernick doesn’t have a job although his numbers show that he more than deserving of one and we have President in office that has made it a point to bash NFL players who choose to protest the Nation Anthem.
On Friday, at a rally in Alabama President Trump would call on the NFL Owners to “Fire” any player who decided to “disrespect our flag”. He would express that opinion by making the following remarks against NFL players:
Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!”
This brought much outrage from NFL players and owners as most teams would elect to protest the National Anthem in many different ways the following Sunday. Some teams elected to collectively kneel, some elected to stand and lock arms, but most did some combination of the two. The Steelers, Seahawks, and Titans elected to not participate in the national anthem at all.
Approximately 23% of NFL players elected to protest after the President made his comment over the weekend. In 2016, less than 5% of NFL players elected to protest the National Anthem after Colin Kaepernick began his protest in August of 2016.
The protesting of the National Anthem over the weekend has made many believe that the protest is no longer about police brutality and racial injustice and that it’s now about everything but those issues.
Jason Conner, a junior English student, explained how he believes the initial message of the protest is getting lost between how people feel about the protest itself.
“I think the point got misconstrued because it just became about the National Anthem and standing for the flag instead of being about black people which Colin Kaepernick tried to make it about.”
There are also people that believe that whether the NFL players are protesting racial injustice or Donald Trump it is all intertwined and protest is much needed.
“I believe that both issues go hand and hand. Donald Trump is the face of racism in America and at this point in time you can’t mention one without talking about the other.” Said Mike Johnson, an NC A&T student, when expressing his approval with the protest messages.
In my personal belief, I feel that some of the NFL players and owners are complete hypocrites. I think the NFL is trying to create this false narrative that they want players to speak out and that the owners care about social issues when in reality they only care about protecting the “the shield.” The NFL has tried to change the meaning behind the protest into a discussion about unity when in reality that isn’t what the protest was meant to fully represent.
If you are an NFL owner and you want to show how unified you are with your players, then sign Colin Kaepernick. Don’t allow Kaepernick’s protest to blind you of how talented he is as a football player. Kaepernick could and should be the starter for a handful of NFL teams (my Jets especially).
Kaepernick started the protest to bring awareness to the racial injustices that have been taking place in America. We can’t unify until we acknowledge the issues regarding racial injustice and address them aggressively. I hope that some of these NFL players and owners will understand the magnitude of what this protest means and has the potential to be.
This protest is bigger than football, it’s bigger than just any one human being. This protest is about the future of America and what direction we want America to go. Racial tensions are at an all-time high and it’s time for us as Americans to recognize what we need to do to truly make America a great place for all its citizens regardless of race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation.
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