Colin Kaepernick is an NFL quarterback who plays for the San Francisco 49ers. A month ago people who aren’t sport fanatics or San Francisco residents had no idea who he was. Now, however, Colin Kaepernick is all over the news, he is the center of controversy rocking the entire nation, but what did he do to be so controversial? He did not stand during the National Anthem, when everybody else in the stadium of thousands of people stood.
Colin Kaepernick shook the nation on Thursday, September 1, 2016 when he chose to kneel while his teammates, coaches and all the fans in the stadiums respected the country they live in and the sacrifices made for it by standing. After the game he was ridiculed and many wondered why did disrespect the flag? Why did he take a knee? Was he protesting something? After the game he said that he was protesting police brutality by taking a knee during the Star Spangled Banner, even though police forces are city, county, and state run and not a federal institution. Not to mention the disrespect of the millions who have died and sacrificed their lives for that flag.
Colin Kaepernick protested the police brutality going on in the country currently by taking a knee during the national anthem. While his reasons for protesting are legitimate, his methods are not ideal. He could have made a donation to the Black Lives Matter organization, or speak for them, or even create an organization of his own. The problems with how he protested are that logically it does not make any sense. The Federal government does not have anything to do with individual police departments, which are county, city, and state run, and they couldn’t legally do anything to alter police policies because of the 10th amendment to the Constitution. Also many veterans were offended by his kneeling during the anthem in which they and their fallen comrades have sacrificed so much for. In fact, one of our very own JROTC instructors who has given 20+ years of his life to this country had opinions about Colin Kaepernick’s actions.
Here is his interview with questions and answers:
Q: Were his actions justified? If not what should his punishment be?
A: Colin Kaepernick’s actions were not justified to me. The American Flag stand(s) for these three things, valor, purity and justice. Protesting social injustice on a flag that represents all of us is blasphemous. There are men and women of all races that have died for that flag. With that said, I don’t believe Mr. Kaepernick should be punish(ed), we live in a democracy and he has a right to sit or stand
Q: Would you have done the same thing?
A: Absolutely not. This country has given me endless opportunity and I am forever grateful. My 20+ years served in the Marine Corps was the least I could do to show my gratitude.
Q: Should he have protested in a different way?
A: If Colin Kaepernick wanted to raise awareness to this social injustice happening today, he should’ve created a peaceful organization, or publically announced his alliance with one. We as a nation will not move forward until we come together as one
Colin Kaepernick has stood up, waited, and kneeled for what he believes in, and that must have taken an enormous amount of courage knowing the criticism he’d get afterwards; that is commendable. His protesting the national anthem and the flag however, does not make much sense and is incredibly disrespectful to veterans and armed service members as pointed out before. I hope that someday soon he and those that have taken this up with him will figure this out.
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