To say there isn’t a problem with violence in America would be ignorant. It doesn’t matter where you stand on police brutality or the Black Lives Matter movement, everyone must admit that violence in America is reaching an unacceptable point and a change needs to happen very quickly before it gets worse.

I have a lot of respect for celebrities, especially athletes, who are starting to speak out about the need for change within varying communities. When LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul took to the stage at the ESPYS to address this issue, it stole the show. They spoke in such a professional and eloquent manner when addressing their desire for change by calling upon other athletes to start using their voice.

I don’t simply condone, but strongly support this form of expression as it makes national headlines in a way that respects the rights gifted to Americans through the first amendment. The freedom of speech is one of the most essential freedoms for a functional western democracy that wishes to operate to its fullest and continually work towards improvement. Without the freedom to speak one’s mind, society becomes oppressed and progress is limited. Freedom of speech isn’t a limitless right, though, as there are some things that can’t be said or expressed without coming under scrutiny.

I applaud Colin Kaepernick for having the courage to make such a bold statement by refusing to stand during the national anthem at the beginning of football games. I respect his willingness to stick by his cause and take the unwavering criticism in stride; not many people would be able to stand such pressure from a significant portion of the NFL fan base. I applaud that he is an athlete trying to send a message and enact change, but I do not applaud the means by which he hopes to achieve his end goal.

There’s no doubting that his means has been successful in regards to grabbing national headlines/magazine covers and is forcing people to at least think about the violence and supposed oppression that he is not content with.

At the end of the day, however, the national anthem is not something that you can use and disrespect to make a point. The national anthem, along with the American flag, is a symbol and a testament to those people, past and present, who showed the greatest courage of them all to fight for the protection of this country; as a citizen who is reaping the benefits of the rights that these individuals fought to defend, he needs to stand up and respect them every time his team goes out to play.

I want more athletes to speak out and use their voices to help instigate change, but it should not be done by a means that, in any way, shows disrespect to the brave men and women of our armed forces who has fought tirelessly and courageously to make this land as safe from outside threat as it is today. I’m surprised he has the audacity to look at veterans on the field and in the stands and continue with the grotesque protest he is making week in week out.

As the NBA stars proved to us at the ESPYS, there are many ways to make change for the cause you want to support. Michael Jordan made a sizable donation to foundations that help aid in finding solutions to these violence issues; however, maybe Kaepernick can’t afford to make a generous donation with his dwindling NFL career looking to be cut short relatively soon. Despite this, he can still use various social media outlets and charitable events to gain traction and recognition for his cause.

These events may not be national news like his current form of protest is, but at least he won’t be disrespecting the individuals who deserve to be held in the highest esteem, individuals who fought incessently to insure that Kaepernick is safe to sit his butt on the bench and get paid obscene amounts of money for doing so. Again, I applaud the quarterback for being brave enough to speak up and demand change, but he needs to finds a more self-effacing outlet for voicing these ideals before he ends up causing more harm than good.

Even when I wasn’t a citizen of the United States, I would stand and remove my hat as a child out of respect for what the national anthem symbolized. As a natural-born citizen, I would expect Colin Kaepernick to have more respect and class than this.