Kneeling for the national anthem. | Teen Ink

Kneeling for the national anthem.

February 6, 2018
By Bspring1419 BRONZE, Turner , Maine
Bspring1419 BRONZE, Turner , Maine
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments


Former 49s quarterback Colin Kaepernick refuted that he would stand for the National Anthem if someone signed him. He kneeled because he took racial injustice and police brutality a reporter said that Kaepernick would indeed stand for the Anthem if he was signed. “Colin has not said that he is going to stand for the anthem, FYI.” as a tweet from @deray. Now the NFL is dealing with protests from many teams for black rights and police brutality. Kaepernick didn't know at the time that he would cause such an uprising. This was the start of what's been happening now and a huge turn for the NFL’s future.


The next year no one has signed Kaepernick and he believes that the NFL didn't want him in the league for what he did the year before. He believes it's a conspiracy that the government had a role in this that he would not be signed into the NFL. After the fact, Kaepernick states in this quote “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on” which if I had to guess meant that the NFL is lying to him by not signing him and making him think that nobody wanted him. But the real reason is because of him kneeling at the National Anthem. What I don't understand is he didn't get signed because he kneeled why aren't the player who is kneeling now getting fired.


As well as Kaepernick not getting signed his kneeling went throughout the NFL to help with black rights and police brutality. Other teams such as the Texans all kneeled and locked arms to support the cause. Teams all around the league were doing this except for the players who didn't want to. I don't think you could find one team in the NFL that didn't have a player kneeling. The problem has gotten so severe that most players are kneeling no matter what race they are. Most of the players realize what's been happening in the U.S and they are supporting the cause I believe that’s why players are kneeling they aren’t kneeling to disrespect America players kneel to raise awareness of the cause.


The coach for the Houston Texans coach said "But just a huge sense of unity, I think we all felt, just coming out and playing for each other. And that was it. Forgetting everything else. Once kickoff started, we tried to block out any other distractions we may have had and try and go to work." He felt his team did that in unity against police brutality and for black rights. Then Duane Brown (coach of the Texans) said "I'm never going to force anybody to do anything that they don't feel comfortable with. I think we all felt the same way on Friday. And as far as the demonstration went, some people didn't feel quite comfortable doing it, some people did. But we all supported each other, and that was what was important. I don't think anyone looks at anyone differently for what they stood for or didn't stand for." He believes his team has rights to protest what they feel like should be shown to the public.


With all that's going on in the NFL then and now is just players protesting their feelings about what's been going on with police brutality and black rights. But these are just peaceful protests by kneeling they aren’t doing anything violent so what's the big deal. People, the NFL, and the Government are taking this way to far, just because they are professional athletes they are also citizens of the United States and they are allowed an opinion. So always think about the other side of the story and then u can pick a side.



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