Research Paper On Stand By Kneeling In The NFL

First off, kneeling during the National Anthem is unpatriotic. This is the greatest country in the world. It gives everyone who comes here an opportunity in life, and the right to pursue a life of happiness. It is crazy to think Americas finest football players will still disrespect our Anthem. This problem has gotten so big that even our president has had strong words concerning the issue. President Trump has taken to twitter multiple times saying how unpatriotic it is. Also, how it should be illegal and players who are choosing to kneel should leave the NFL. With that being said, there are still NFL players who stand in support of the Anthem. Some coaches do not allow players to stand alone, like Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead these players they hide in the locker room during the Anthem. In my opinion,

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

In August of 2016, Kaepernick began his protest during a NFL preseason game where he initially sat during the singing of the national anthem. At the time, his rebellious efforts became unnoticed, but he soon enough made headlines when someone took a photo of him sitting during the anthem. Thus a social issue was born from the public’s reaction from the photo.The negativity of the public’s reaction stemmed from the norm that it is customary that people raise their right hand over their heart while facing the flag when the Star-Spangled-Banner is playing, so if one does not follow this norm it is identified showing disrespect. Inevitably, the prediction of the people’s reaction were to be expected as they were outraged when Kaepernick broke the norm. Although, it is legal for individuals not to follow these sacrosanct protocols, citizens of the United States find this norm obligatory.Would you stand by and constantly watch the same social issues to keep reoccurring in your neighborhood? Not only that but it keeps happening to different people by the same organization? When numerous acts of police brutality occurred, Colin Kaepernick decided to protest. He could no longer stand by and do nothing; he decided to take a knee. For professional National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, his response was “no”. One of the last waves that came toward the end of the summer is the kneeling while the national anthem played during sporting events. When Kaepernick decided to

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

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

Situations such as the Michael Brown one, Freddie gray one and Tamir rice are all reasons NFL players such as Colin Kaepernick have been kneeling. The Alton Sterling incident is on camera which is heartbreaking to even think about. Police kill black African-Americans and then try to stand behind self-defense and the law. That isn`t right that families especially moms have to bury their son and live with not never ever seeing their son again. A lot of people say it`s disrespecting the flag which is wrong. African- Americans go through things other races could never. I am in pro of players kneeling because of the injustice inequality and the lack of respect we simply just don`t get. Kneeling brought attention to all of the issues that America is going through also. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks didn`t do things like they did for the world to be at the place it is now. One of the first amendments is freedom of speech and to peacefully assemble. People like white

Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has created much controversy in the nation over his latest protest. During a preseason football game Kaepernick was photographed sitting during the national anthem (McKirdy). When asked about the action later, Kaepernick explained, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” (Wyche). The nation exploded. Many showed their support for the quarterback, expressing pride in him for “standing up” for the things he believes in. Others displayed their anger with him for disrespecting the flag and all the things the flag represents. After seeing what a backlash his action received, Kaepernick decided to kneel instead of sitting, claiming that his new way of protesting would show more respect for those in the line of duty (Anthem uproar). Although he has the right to protest, sitting during the national anthem is the wrong way to draw attention to a specific cause.

Firstly, a lot of people are talking about African American and Caucasian NFL players, or entire teams, kneeling or not even coming out onto the field during the national anthem. Former NFL player Colin Kaepernick first started the protest in 2016. He used to sit during the anthem. In “The #TakeAKnee protests have always been about race. Period.” post made on the CNN website, the author, AJ Willingham wrote, “…their jerseys used as doormats and bonfire fodder. They were called unpatriotic, ungrateful, and disrespectful of the flag, military, and country.” In this post, the author seemed to be against Donald Trump’s speech he made not too much long after.

Over the last few years police brutality and social injustice have been very prevalent in the media. In 2016, a protest for social injustice and police brutality directed towards African Americans was started by NFL player Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick began to kneel during the national anthem to bring attention to social issues. Since then Kaepernick has received praise from the black community and even more backlash, including from the president. Other NFL players began to support Kaepernick and kneel along with him. Kaepernick was later fired for his actions. I am going to discuss whether or not NFL players should be allowed to kneel during the national anthem while they are playing.

A little over two years ago Colin Kapernick the free agent quarterback whom once held a starting position as the quarterback for the San Francisco Forty-Niners began kneeling on one knee during the National Anthem played prior to the kickoff of every game. His reason in taking such measure for doing what he was doing was due to the injustice that was carried out on the way that Black American males have been treated in the United States of America. Ever since the slaying of unarmed Michael Brown, a young black male whom was gunned down whilst being unarmed in Ferguson, Missouri by a white police officer, no charges were filed. Even so following the death of Brown there has been numerous amounts of black males in America that were gunned down

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.

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

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.