Taking a Knee Against Protest

Beginning in late August, a movement occurred that began to receive national attention. In a form of silent protest, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick began sitting during the National Anthem. This was his way to show support for people of color who are being oppressed in the United States, and to take a stand against police brutality.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said via NFL.com “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.”

Since then, a growing number of athletes in the National Football League began to either sit or kneel during the national anthem. And a few started to raise a fist as another form of protest. On Sept.4, USWNT star Megan Rapinoe took a knee during the National Anthem to express solidarity with Kaepernick saying that as a gay American she knew how it felt to not have all her liberties protected by her flag.

These United States citizens began to use their platforms as professional athletes in an effort to spark changes or at least cause people to take notice of a rather blatantly obvious trend.

They were not, however, exempt from the backlash that ensued. People from all types of background, ranging from military personnel to former athletes and your average joe, said they did not support not standing for the flag. They constantly mentioned how it was despicable (and that is keeping it PG) that they would disrespect those who fought to give us the freedoms we enjoy today.

Now with all that said, the amount of media coverage is has obtained has declined in recent weeks. But many websites dedicated to covering sports, such as ESPN, still have feature a page that tracks the players that sit or kneel each and every week.

So why bring this up now?

With Veterans Day coming up, the national holiday dedicated to honoring military veterans, I strongly believe that the protest should be put on hold in recognition of our armed forces.

Let me start off by saying I don’t think these athletes mean any disrespect towards military personnel by doing protesting in this manner and I understand what they are trying to accomplish. However, as previously mentioned, there are people who do take offense to this and that does include members of our armed forces.

Now Veterans Day falls on Friday, November 11 and most NFL games are played on Sunday. Being that it is a national holiday, it is going to be a three-day weekend. This means it will be celebrated throughout the entire weekend and come Sunday, families will be watching football while barbecuing. For those who take offense to this protest, whether they have veterans in their family or not, the last thing they want to see is an act they see as disrespectful towards our armed forces.

So if I do not have a problem with this, why do I think it should be put on hold this weekend? Well 12-year Navy veteran Shawn VanDiver, who remains active in the San Diego military community, said it best when speaking on the reception Kaepernick would receive at the San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium.

“I hope that he gets a wonderful reception,’’ VanDiver said. “I and other veterans fought so he can have his free speech rights, so that all Americans can have their free speech rights, their freedom to protest.”

VanDiver and other veterans fought so Kaepernick, as well as every other American citizen, can have his right to free speech among the many freedoms afforded to us. They fought for us. He doesn’t have a problem with the form of protest currently happening to the American flag. Neither do I.

But if they put their lives on the line to fight for our country and our freedoms, at least for one weekend, we can show our veterans and our flag the respect they deserve. No matter what our personal beliefs are.