Unless you’ve completely checked out of society, you are very aware of the reawakening of the controversy surrounding professional athletes kneeling or turning around during the national anthem at games. Well, naturally, taking law classes has caused the topic to come up as a point of discussion in class, and you can only imagine where this conversation is going.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m aware of what’s going on, but I have not done any extensive research beyond reading about the issue in the news. So, when the topic arose in class I felt quite underprepared to discuss something so messy. Well, now after sitting through the discussion, I want to share some of my thoughts on our discussion and on the controversy itself.

My teacher left the floor open to any comments anybody in the class had, simply mediating the conversation without throwing in his own opinion. Of course, the most opinionated people spoke up immediately. Naturally, those who actually spoke on the topic were pretty evenly split on how they felt. Some strongly believed the players have the right to kneel, while others believed it is extremely disrespectful to do so.

As I sat in class listening to the back and forth, as well as my teacher’s application to what we have been learning, I could not help but think, how have we gotten to this point?

One of the fundamental rights given to us by the Constitution is the right to free speech as outlined in the First Amendment, along with the right to free religion, press, and assembly. Now, with these freedoms come some limitations as interpreted by the Supreme Court – yes, they are allowed to interpret these amendments and that’s why you cannot yell “Fire” in a crowded theater.

Something else I should point out that I have learned in this class is that the rights we are given as citizens are there to protect us from the government, not from private parties or individuals. That being said, much of the argument about having the right to say whatever we want to whoever we want is invalid since this only protects our speech toward the government.

I’m not saying you cannot speak up for what you believe in against private parties, but they are entitled to throw you some backlash without consequence unless some assault and battery is involved, in which case the courts will be too.

As far as free assembly goes, protest must be lawful and peaceful, meaning it must be organized a certain way and cannot disrupt other groups. Many people claim that what these athletes are doing is peaceful protest and I can see where they are coming from, but do we know if their actions are lawful?

Historically, the national anthem was not always played before sporting events. Even when it was played, for a while, the song was only performed on special occasions such as opening day since it was so expensive to hire a band. It wasn’t until 2009 when players were actually required to stand on the field during the national anthem as a sign of patriotism. Even so, there is no definite rule in the NFL handbook stating exactly what the players must do while the national anthem is playing.

Some may argue that the NFL is partially funded by the government so the players are entitled to practice their right to free speech, but still, this area is quite gray.

All this being said, there is no clear answer to any of this controversy. I’m not defending one side or another, but just stating some facts that I learned that are overlooked by most people in the light of social media and other media. We will never get anywhere as a nation without seeing both sides of an argument and understanding where another perspective is coming from even if we don’t personally agree with it.