Kapernick Research Paper

Colin Kaepernick, San Francisco 49ers quarterback, started much controversy against America when he remained seated for the national anthem during a preseason game against the San Diego Chargers. Kaepernick seems to had developed an enmity against America. He feels that he and fellow African American athletes should not show patriotism to their country because of the unfair treatment their ancestors went through throughout history. Although Kaepernick does have a point about the racial discrimination colored people went through throughout American history, he still has no right to disrespect his country. Kaepernick himself is not black, he is white, but he is just drawing attention to himself.

12 days have gone by from the start of free agency and Colin Kaepernick remains unsigned. Spike Lee believes the fact that Kaepernick, who has played for the 49ers since 2011, is unsigned "smells mad fishy." There are more than a few people who believe Kaepernick’s lack of a contract is a grand NFL conspiracy and Kaepernick is being blackballed for his National Anthem protests last season. Any front-office conversation about Kaepernick must to begin with his poor play, he also showed some flashes of the player he once was last year, but nowhere near enough to override all the bad film he’s amassed in the last two seasons.

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.

Players in the NFL must hate America, or at least that’s what some would say when talking about the issue of what players do during the national anthem. Early last year in 2016 a NFL player for the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kapernick, decided to take a stand by sitting on the bench during the national anthem. His reason was to bring awareness to police brutality, specifically with African Americans, in the United States. As you know, most people stand during the national anthem to show respect for the flag, our country, and the people who fight for it. In realization of what it meant to sit during the national anthem, Colin Kapernick decided to make a compromise by kneeling instead of sitting. His point on awareness to police brutality was clear by kneeling, but it also shows more respect to the women and men in the military, than sitting. Many players, not just African American players, have followed this movement. NFL players have the right to peacefully protest in this form and should not be penalized. This movement is a peaceful protest to bring awareness to police brutality, a practical way to grab the attention of people, and is a movement spreading further than the NFL.

A present day crucible in today’s world that has been occurring more and more is kneeling to the national anthem and how people that kneel don’t like our country, are only focused on helping one group/race of people, and people are being kicked off teams because of them making protests.The Anthem protests started last year in August when Colin Kaepernick sat on the bench at an NFL game during the National Anthem. After the game reporters asked him why he sat and he said, “I am not going to stand up and show pride in a flag for a country that opposes black people and people of color” (Wyche ). Since this first incident it’s spread across all of the NFL, high school sports, NHL, women's professional soccer, and even in the MLB. This protest has even been caught in the eyes of the president and there is no sign of this protest slowing down.

A big controversial topic going around in the news over the past few weeks has been Colin Kaepernick and his stand to end the hardship for people of color and police brutality in the United States. This silent stand started early this preseason when a number of different events involving people of color and police officers around the United States not getting along. However, this has started to become more publicized as more and more people in the National Football League have been joining in with Colin Kaepernick and taking a knee or sitting during the national anthem. This stand has become way more than a simple silent stand as many people around the nation are starting to voice their opinions on this subject. Even though everyone argues their thoughts on this subject.

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

In the Atlantic article “They Took A Knee,” author Megan Garber describes the recent outbreak in NFL players and coaches, who have participated in the protest against social oppression, by kneeling during the national anthem. The article describes how there an been an extensive increase in the protests of NFL athletes “after President Trump’s harsh condemnations towards them, for kneeling during the national anthem”. As stated in the article, NFL protests began in 2016, when NFL player Colin Kaepernick “knelt during the pre-game singing of the national anthem...to protest racial oppression against African Americans.” This action has now been replicated by NFL athletes all over the country standing up for equality

Kneeling during the national anthem is not just wrong it is also disrespectful to the multitudes in our country who have served or or presently serving this great nation-- the United States of America. The national anthem represents many things. One of them is the fortitude of our country’s flag. In the anthem it declares that the United States of America is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The flag represents the very core and essence of our nation as the only land on the continent that offers its citizens the freedoms it has at the price paid for ultimately by the brave. It is in no way oppressive nor racist. It is the theme song for every American. The intended audience of this paper is an appeal to all Americans. The quarterback of the 49ers football team, Colin Kaepernick, first began a protest to draw attention to a series of incidents against African Americans by remaining seated during the national anthem, “the Star Spangled Banner.” After the great stir Kaepernick caused in the media during September 2016, Kaepernick switched up his protest by taking a knee as a nod or gesture of showing more respect to current and former military after receiving an in-depth letter from Nate Boyer a former NFL player and US military veteran. Boyer served our country as a Green Beret. Over a decade ago, Boyer witnessed genocide while working in Sudan. He met numerous African men who were smitten with America and longed to have the

For many, speaking up for what you believe in can be difficult and risky, but ultimately worth the risk. Colin Kaepernick took this risk, by kneeling during the national anthem to stand up against “ police brutality and the inequality that people of color”(NFL). With many unjust shootings and police beatings of African Americans, Kaepernick’s teammate Eric Reid couldn’t stand the violence anymore after “the killing of Alton Sterling in my hometown Baton Rouge, La”(Reid). Reid joined Kaepernick in taking a knee during the national anthem, in doing this Kaepernick and Reid inspired other players to raise awareness and help those in need. This decision caused huge impacts on the nation, the NFL, and the youth who look up to the players of the NFL.

NFL players across the league have launched a new protest to take a stand against police brutality against unarmed African Americans. This protest takes place during the national anthem of the United States of America when players take a knee rather than standing at attention with hand over heart. Colin Kaepernick started this movement in 2016 when he felt that he did not want to honor a country that allows such violence on minorities. While police brutality is a serious problem in America, taking a knee during the national anthem is not the proper way to protest this issue. This protest is a disrespectful and a waste of effort protesting at the wrong times and offending countless people.

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.

If you are sports fan in the U.S., Sunday afternoons between August and February represent gathering with family and friends to watch NFL football. However, this year’s NFL season has been plagued with controversy over the #Take a Knee peaceful protests being demonstrated during the raising of the American Flag and singing of the National Anthem. On September 23rd, at a rally in Alabama, President Trump launched an attack against the NFL stating, “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!” (Graham, 2017, para. 2). Following these statements made by President Trump, on Sunday September 24th, there were wide scale protests from nearly every NFL team. Nearly every media outlet reported their take on President Trump’s missiles against the NFL and how the NFL players would react. The Atlantic and The New York Times took no exception, both publishing articles regarding the views on the controversy.

Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49s started sitting during the national anthem to protest against African American people and minorities in the United Sates. Kaepernick has played in 57 regular season NFL games since 2011-2015 and why has he just started kneeling in 2016? Many Americans are looking at this movement in terms of black and whites and not in terms of athletes.

The United States of America is a multicultural nation in which all individuals are proclaimed free and equal. While this is true for many, African-Americans are oppressed and deemed inferior by society because of the racism and injustice that persists in America. This is seen through police brutality against black people compared to other races. In 2017 alone, the police have killed 1,079 people and black people were 26% (279) of those killed despite being only 13% of the total population in America (Mapping Police Violence). The increasing violence and inequality against African-Americans led to numerous protests and calls for change. In the National Football League (NFL) former San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick, knelt during the National Anthem in order to raise awareness on the issues concerning African-Americans. His actions spread worldwide and athletes from different countries and sports leagues began to protest the Star Spangled Banner. National Anthem protests in professional sports have sparked social activism in America concerning police brutality and racial injustice.