Analysis Of The National Anthem By Colin Kaernick

Colin Kaepernick is a professional American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Keapernick ignited controversy when he chose to remain seated while his teammates were standing to the "Star Spangled Banner". His actions yelled that he was against patriotism. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive after the game against Green Bay. " To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.

After watching day after day of the many police shootings killing innocent Blacks on the news it was only a matter of time before someone rose to the action. That person was Colin Kaepernick and his way of showing a difference was to kneel instead of stand during the National Anthem before their game against the Los Angeles Rams in week one.

The 49ers quarterback has been making a statement for the past couple weeks during the American national anthem. Colin Kaepernick has been sitting or kneeling during the national anthem when traditionally people stand and pay respect to all of those who have died to protect their freedom. Kaepernick is being unpatriotic. It does not matter what reason you have you should find a different place to stage your views instead of during our national anthem. In Jaweed Kaleem’s article “In the ‘land of the free,’ are you free to sit out the national anthem” he says that Kaepernick has”kneeled when the patriotic music started.” He did this on the annual Salute to the Military night when retired veterans and others who fought for his freedom came to

"It's an oxymoron that you're sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak out" (Brees). Many athletes have expressed what they believe in by taking action. Some are disrespectful actions and others are meaningful in spreading their cause. A big representation, especially across the NFL, is kneeling while our country’s anthem is played. The movement across the league of kneeling was introduced by Colin Kaepernick, QB of the 49ers. Many people think that what he and other players are doing is the wrong way to represent a cause and that it needs to be fixed.

The National Anthem is our country’s theme song and it is very highly respected throughout our great country. The Anthem talks about freedom, liberty, and justice for all and about how there are great men and women who risk their lives every day so our country can be free. So, when the Anthem is played at professional football games everyone stands and holds their hand over their heart and respects our flag and our Anthem because that is the least we can do to help support and show our respects to our soldiers and our great country. As many people can see, a lot of things are changing, and these changes started when Colin Kaepernick (Former Quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, now a free agent) decided to take a knee instead of standing during the National Anthem in the 2016-17 season. Colin says he did this not to disrespect the soldiers and war veterans but, to bring awareness of the issues going on in our country. Colin said that he felt that our country is not free and justice is not done fairly. He believes there is too much Police brutality “there are people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable”-Kaepernick. Also, he believes African Americans are treated and looked at differently and it has been that way in the past and it still hasn’t changed. Once Colin kneeled and said all the things he needed to get off his chest the world shook. African American people and professional athletes all over the world agreed with what he did. I’m not saying white people didn’t agree, but it was more African Americans that felt the same way Colin did and

Football players in the NFL are kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem to protest racial discrimination and police brutality; this can be stopped by reducing the football player’s pay, make kneeling during the National Anthem illegal, or try to end racial discrimination and police brutality in America. This protest was started by a quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers named Colin Kaepernick who said that he refused to honor a song or “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” (McLaughlin and Simon) Even though this is a peaceful protest, it is still unjust and very disrespectful. Not only is it disrespectful to the American Flag, it is highly disrespectful to the American troops that fought for this country.

Colin Kaepernick has the right to not stand for the anthem. Kaepernick had the audacity to not stand for the anthem! He has the right to not stand for the national anthem. Even though he has the right to sit for the anthem, because of free speech given to him in the constitution. Also, the National Football League (NFL) has no rule preventing the players from sitting for the national anthem. Even though, he has the right, to do what he did, it was tremendously disrespectful to the military and other people

People in America to say ,think and do what they believe. So why is it when a NFL superstar decides to sit down for the National Anthem the people consider this act to be a non- American act. “Colin Kaepernick, the backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, made headlines when he refused to stand for the National Anthem.” this was in an article by Kelly A. Scaletta. This has build up a lot of controversy, regarding if this was wrong or right.

The people of America have always stood for the National Anthem. Of course they have they are American. Why wouldn’t you want to stand up and be a proud American as some would say?

The United States Flag is a symbol of all the soldiers that have and are currently fighting for our country. So, when Colin Kaepernick didn’t stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner”, it caused a huge uprising throughout the world. In the article “In the ‘land of the free,’ are you free to sit out the national anthem?” from the Los Angeles Times, it says that the reason Colin chose not to stand was because of the division of the country. “The country is divided between Black Lives Matter- a movement who activism over police shootings of black men Kaepernick tweets about to his 900,000 followers - and Blue Lives Matter” (Kaleem). I believe that the what people are saying about Kaepernick being disrespectful to the fighting men and our country is

I was terribly disappointed when I witnessed the act of Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the National Anthem at the 49er’s first preseason game. He is protesting to show support for people of opposite ethnicities that are being oppressed in the United States. He is trying to bring attention to the police killings. A similar protest about being oppressed and the police brutalities is Black Lives Matters (BLM). They are taking the protest to a more violent level. Such as destroying police cars, motorcycles, beating people, burning the American flag, and so on. I understand the purpose behind the protests, but there are other ways to get their point across without disrespecting the country and everything it stands for. Not only are they disrespecting

I think that Kaepernick is stupid and very disrespectful to our nation and to all of the men and women who fight for our country. Collin will kneel during the playing of the national anthem, while their are people with no legs that still try and stand up during the national anthem. I believe that he is in the wrong here, because he is disrespectful to the nation. “In the ‘land of the free,’ are you free to sit out the national anthem?” by Jaweed Kaleem, he writes about what Kaepernick was doing, did before the football games. Now, since he started doing this kneeling before the game, it has brought out many other players and their beliefs about standing up and placing their hands across their hearts, so the players are either kneeling or raising

In 2017 controversy struck when the NFL tried “taking a stance” and protesting the National Anthem. In this protest, many NFL players one by one knelt down while the National Anthem played at their sporting event. The National Anthem is a song for our country and symbol to represent all of the men and women who have fought in our military. This song is not played just for our entertainment, it is to honor the flag and what it stands for. The protesting was started by Colin Kaepernick, last season, when he was the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. He was the first player to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem, now many other NFL players this season are following in his path and doing the same thing. Many players and viewers claim it is for police brutality and the injustice that is being served, while other viewers see it as entitled millionaires disrespecting the flag and the military. Everyone has different opinions on the issue, but no matter what the country needs to respect one another as humans and be united; the American Flag is a symbol of our freedom and the NFL needs to recognize the National Anthem rather than kneeling and disrespecting what it stands for.

Protesting in the National Football League has been going on, as some of the country’s most beloved and highly recognized athletes are seen disrespecting the United States of America on national TV every weekend. The players’ reason for the protesting is police brutality, you can see them kneeling, raising their fist in the air, or even sit in the locker room while the national anthem is being played. Although I do understand what they are trying to do, I believe that there definitely better ways to go about their protest. The protests started in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, took a knee during the national anthem. When question about his actions he responded by saying, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour”(Lake). While some people sided with Kaepernick most people took offense to his decision to kneel. In him doing this it has caused a league wide outbreak in protest; as players and sometimes even whole teams take a knee or show some type of protest during our country's anthem.

The first amendment in the Constitution of the United States of America is about the freedom of speech. This is the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint. Colin Kaepernick is using his first amendment right to say what he wants to say and that is perfectly fine, of course people will have their own opinions which is also perfectly fine the problem is his timing. With everything that’s going on in the world today and all of the people that are divided it’s important for people with a voice to speak out for those that don’t, the problem with Kaepernick’s situation is that by kneeling during the national anthem at the football games he’s protesting while at work. I understand why he is kneeling and I also understand that he is kneeling during the game to bring awareness to his cause but at the end of the day he is protesting while at work. I’m not saying he should be fired, in fact I’m saying the opposite. It all comes down to the teams because it’s their decision if there should be any actions taken against him since they would be his boss. This was the main topic in Forbes magazine when Marc Edelman covered the story on whether or not the NFL can fire players for kneeling during the national anthem.