National Anthem protests started on August 14th, 2016 with Colin Kaepernick sitting on the bench during the national anthem. This continued for another two games before he talked to former Green Beret and former NFL player Nate Boyer about the best way to make his point without disrespecting the military; Kaepernick then began taking a knee instead of simply sitting on the bench during games beginning on November 1st, 2016. There has been talk across the nation from last year into this year about whether or not this protesting should be happening, and about what the protesting was legitimately about, with even the president weighing in on the matter; everyone seems to have an opinion about the issue. But the National Anthem protests should stop because they have goals that are vague and unclear; refusing to stand is disrespectful to soldiers and veterans alike; and refusing to stand makes people too angry to consider the message behind the protest, effectively stopping any progress that could be made by the protests.
We have all heard of the National Anthem protests in the NFL at this point, but if you went around and asked different people around you what the goals of these protests are, you would draw a couple of answers. One answer you would receive would be that the protests are against Donald Trump, which might make you scratch your head in wonder: why would people think that? Perhaps as a result of Trump’s long railing tweets about how NFL players that don’t stand
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 current debate over kneeling or sitting in protest during the national anthem to protest police brutality was ignited by Kaepernick in 2016, and later adopted by many other professional football players, high school athletes, and professional athletes in other sports, all who have refused to stand for the national anthem. These protests have created disagreement and sparked a public conversation race, police brutality, the flag and if the NFL is the best forum for to protest such issue. Colin Kaepernick has since said “he’s not protesting the flag but police brutality against African Americans. www.Procon.org
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.
Countless people worldwide have different opinions on the National Anthem protest in the NFL. Some people think it’s a good idea of protest and agree with what those players are protesting for, some people are just hard headed and don’t want to look at the bigger picture and just call it outright disrespectful to the flag and the military. A large number of people find it appropriate and support what those players are fighting for because they are exercising their first amendment right, and that shows how educated someone is. People also support this protest because it is very peaceful and is not resulting in a harmful way that endangers people. The National Anthem protest is an extremely appropriate form of protest, because it gives athletes the chance to perform an act that can have them killed or punished extremely in other countries.
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.
Many players and their coaches have been protesting police brutality by ‘taking-a-knee’ during the Pledge of Allegiance. The media has been sharing and it has now become a bigger deal since the president has addressed it by saying "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b---h off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired!" This riled up many Trump supports, secially when later on he tweeted that it had nothing to do with race and that it was about respecting the country. This leads many people to believe that the NFL players are just disrespecting their country. The stereotype about African Americans, that they are often disrespectful, is also being used to ‘justify’ what a lot of the media has to say. But, the real reason many NFL players are protesting is because they think that they shouldn't have to stand if they don't have pride for their country, and they have the right to do so, according to their first amendment. They don't lose the right to protest when they go on the field like some of the media thinks so. Many people, often white believe they live in a just- world because they have never had to deal with the racism many African Americans are dealing with so they do not think it is a big deal and that they are protesting to be disrespectful. The illusory correlation can also
“The protests during the national anthem started last season when former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the Star-Spangled Banner. Very few players protested the national anthem in Week 10 of the NFL season after the NFL Players Association asked all players to observe a two-minute moment of silence to honor veterans before Veterans Day.” First Paragraph.
Taking a knee during the National Anthem began 13 months ago with Colin Kaepernick. He started to protest just by sitting on the bench, then when he was asked why he is doing this he responded saying that he is doing this to show more respect for the military veterans. However, a few months later when Kaepernick’s protest became more known to society he said “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag or country that oppresses black people, and to
At the start of the 2016 NFL preseason, Colin Kaepernick, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, decided to take a seat during the National Anthem. His gesture during the first preseason game went unnoticed until the third preseason game. Many Americans disapproved and were very angry with him because America thinks sitting during the National Anthem is disrespectful to our military and our Nation. In an interview,32 Kaepernick said he was doing this because there is too much racial discrimination and police brutality against blacks. By the last preseason game, Kaepernick was kneeling instead of sitting because he respects the former and current military and he thought sitting was too disrespectful against the military. As the NFL season continues, so does Kaepernick's protest. Americans should be for the National Anthem Protest because the protest is fighting racial discrimination and police brutality.
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 article, “National Anthem Protests”, written by Steve Byas on The New American, on October 24, 2016, states that when the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, decided to kneel during the national anthem that his protest wasn’t about the police brutality on blacks but to disrespect this country. Texas senator, Ted Cruz, states in the article that “it’s very easy when you’re sitting there, rolling in millions of dollars to disrespect this country” (13 Byas). Kaepernick and many other NFL players have stated that they are not disrespecting our flag but kneeling in protest to the police brutality on black people across the country. Although the players have said this, people beg to differ.
I feel as “Protests? Not in College Football.” has a more objective tone compares to “Texas High School Coach Boots Football Players for Anthem Protest” because it was not influenced by personal choice but rather presented facts and were realistic on possible outcomes of this dilemma. We see this on multiple occasion first, they stated a trustworthy reason of why this matter of athletes specifically African American football players kneeling for the national anthem will ruin matters for not just the players but the companies too. He proceeded by saying that So why would college officials be reticent to change? Because boosters also have First Amendment rights, and many may be inclined to cut off their donations. This is very true because donors
Since the 1918 World Series the National Anthem has been played at sporting events. The anthem is a symbol for the soldiers who raised the flag after the horrors of cannon bombardment during the war of 1812. Some people seem to think that the anthem has no connection to a sporting event, others find the anthem to be discriminatory. During the anthem we’re asked to stand to remind ourselves of the sacrifice American’s have made for our freedoms. At a recent 49ers football game, Quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the National Anthem. While Tim Wendel (pro) and Merrill Matthews (con) decided to express their opinions in an article for the Tribune Company. Tim Wendel is for “Protests push all of us to face the dilemma of racial
The national anthem is a time for our country to pay respects to our army for giving us our freedom and protection. The “Opinion: The Athlete as Agent of Change” article by Lonnie Bunch and David Skorton is an article that describes how America feels about athletes who are protesting during the National Anthem by kneeling, raising a fist, etc. Honestly, it does depend on what they are protesting for, although in the athlete’s code of conduct, all athletes are required to stand during the national anthem. Seeing an athlete who is not standing during the national anthem is a disgrace to our country, our soldiers who are fighting for our freedom, and the people of whom have kept this nation at peace the best they can. Protesting is fine.