You're doing it wrong.

I doubt Colin Kaepernick or the four other players from Miami Dolphins will read this, but for those who do. I'm finally throwing in my two cents.

First, let me say that I'm not mad at those NFL players who refused to stand during the National Anthem. No, I'm disappointed.

Racism is real. We know that. It has been real, and unfortunately it is going to be real for a long time. I think we as a society get caught up in this stupid notion, "it's 2016, there shouldn't be racism". For some reason, because it's this year, because it's today, all problems from the past should disappear. This is the year that everything should change. When it doesn't, we get all caught up in a big soap opera and freak out. Well there's problems within our society, right? So, we have to stand up, speak out, protest to help fix those problems. I'm sure that was the intent of the NFL stars, but it was not executed or done appropriately/well. Why? Because they made the situation worse.

Being an NFL star comes with a lot of responsibility, you have an entire league of fans behind you. They're cheering for you, watching your every move, so you can play the game and win the Super Bowl. On top of that, you have a lot of people look up to you. Whenever I hear of NFL stars going to help out at children hospitals, or working at food drives, it gives me a warm feeling, sure. But it also inspires me to try and get to work within my own community, to help out and to follow in their footsteps. Thousands of kids look up to NFL stars, and hundreds more people do too, whether or not they realize it.

So why the flag? What happens when you disrespect the flag? What does that flag represent? Well, the very design of the flag should give you enough insight. If that's not enough, let's take a look as to what our country is.

America, originally, was set up so that each state within the country had the right to govern themselves. That entire idea got thrown out the window, basically, thanks to the republican party around the civil war era. Even still, our country is currently set up in such a way where the government recognizes that each individual has rights that can not be given, but rather inherent such rights because of their very human nature. It is also set up in such a way that we, the people, choose officials to govern us. The government works for us. At least, that's how it's supposed to be. On top of all that, thousands of men and women have given their lives to protect such a country. The flag represents a country whose government is chosen by the people, whose police officers are the people, and the people who gave their life to defend the people. When the NFL players do this kind of publicity stunt to protest the government about racial injustice, they immediately created a divide. It's us against them. Them, the people who we elected, to work for us, to protect our rights so we can protest..against them? Now that they created a divide, they're creating a war. The people against the government, the government that the people are supposed to pick. Now we have a bunch of young kids, who look up to these stars, who won't do anything to fix the problem. They won't get involved in their communities and run for governor, or become a police officer, or run for congress. Now we have kids who are going to grow up, disrespecting the authority. Authority they elected to have authority over them, and to protect them so that they can disrespect the authority.

Here is where everything really comes into play (get it?). An NFL star, showing disrespect towards authority, isn't helpful. To anyone. But here's the irony. The NFL players were not showing respect for the flag of a nation because they believe the nation has racial prejudice, that it is unjust and unfair towards black people. A nation whose leader...is black.