As we all know 2 weeks ago before the preseason game between Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick spurned to stand for the national anthem. Kaepernick has never refused to stand for the national anthem throughout his career. Kaepernick played his first preseason game last week but didn't play the whole as he rested himself in the 2nd half.
“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.” Kaepernick said during the postgame interview. "You have Hillary, who has called black teens or black kids 'super-predators,' ah... you have Donald Trump who is openly racist. We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate. That doesn't make sense to me, because if it was any other person, she'd be in prison."
On Monday, Donald Trump was on the Dori London show and was asked about Kaepernick’s action.
“I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try. It won’t happen,” Donald Trump said.
Hillary Clinton hasn't responded to her thoughts on Kaepernick but will talk about it in the future.
Later on social media, a lot of non-49ers and 49ers fans burned his jersey after what he did and tweeted that he's a traitor or he's disrespecting the military who fought for America.
I interviewed a few people on Twitter and let them share their thoughts on Kaepernick’s action from Last Friday's preseason game against Green Bay, and here were their words:
From @Jalen23p: “I agree with him 100%. And he's not disrespecting the military or anything like that.”
From @LifeOfSpiider: “I think as an American he should be able to sit if he feels oppressed, with that being said I don't think Colin Kaepernick is the right representative for this movement but I applaud his courage and his ability to answer questions as they come”
From @iamdjgrady: “Perfect example of what a protest should look like, 100 in support.”
This isn't the first time we've had someone sit down during the national anthem. Back in the day, Jackie Robinson refused to salute the flag, sing and stand for the national anthem back in game 1 of the 1947 World Series. Then 25 years later, he talked about his national anthem experience and here is what he said: “There I was, the black grandson of a slave, the son of a black sharecropper, part of a historic occasion, a symbolic hero to my people. The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the national anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands. Perhaps, it was, but then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first world series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey’s drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.”
Jackie Robinson was an icon from the past, but Colin doesn't have what Jackie had. Also America today wasn't like Jackie Robinson’s era.
1 week later, he knelt instead of standing for the national anthem and gets booed by fans when they played against San Diego Chargers in the Qualcomm Stadium.
After the game, he told the media he chose to kneel instead of sitting down on the bleachers.
"To show more respect for men and women who fight for the country.", Kaepernick said.
However, he wasn't the only athlete or player that did it. One of his teammates, Safety Eric Reid, took a knee to join Kaepernick before the 49ers-Chargers game.
Additionally, one of the US Women's soccer players of the Seattle Reigns Megan Rapinoe was the first white athlete to refuse to stand for the national anthem before the soccer game against Red Stars on Sunday.
"Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties," Rapinoe said.
"(The gesture) was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it."
"It's important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this. We don't need to be the leading voice, of course, but standing in support of them is something that's really powerful."
According to the Daily Wire, 36 out of 990 unarmed black men have been shot and killed by police officers in America. That would equal 3.6% of unarmed black men.
It's very disgusting and sad to hear these innocent black men getting killed by cops for no reason. We should protest this problem and fight for justice.
