One of the things that I pride myself on as an American citizen is the "First Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution which protects my freedom of speech. According to the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peacefully to assemble. and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." (Cornell University Law School) I am not someone who agrees with everything in the constitution, but because I agree with certain aspects of it, I am forced to accept what was written.
Now I have done a great bit of thinking on this topic and what was said by the controversial backup Quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers and I have come to one conclusion. That conclusion is that while I don't agree that Kaepernick isn't standing of the "Star Spangled Banner" or our nation's national anthem, but I respect his right to do so even though I do not one hundred percent agree with his message. The fact that people are making such a big deal out of this means they really care about what some washed up Quarterback thinks about the country that he lives in.
What people don't know is that apparently Kaepernick doesn't stand during the national anthem of the United States, at least during the preseason this year and nobody has said anything about it. Now what has he said? What is his message? In a press conference after the third preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, Kaepernick said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color... To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish of me to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people are getting paid leave and getting away with murder." (NFL.com)
This obviously is in response to what he sees as racism by police officers in this country and the opinion of them killing innocent, unarmed people of color. Now it doesn't matter what I believe because I don't want to cause a tussle. No matter what I say I will always get that person who calls me a liberal or a "libtard" for saying that racism still takes place in this country out of ignorance or out of choice. Police officers are being paid to protect and to serve and I am extremely proud to call about 95% of these officers the protectors of the law in this country. However, there is a small percentage of police officers that are bad apples, just like there are bad apples in every state, in every country, in every profession. There are bad apples who are lawyers, who are teachers, who are government officials, who are athletes, and who are doctors just like there are bad apples in law enforcement. The job of this country is to weed out those individuals and make sure that they are not protecting the law in this country. That is all I am going to say before a lynch mob comes after me, telling me I hate police officers because that is FAR from what I said.
The two questions are, does Kaepernick have a point? And was this the correct way to protest? The answer is that he MIGHT have a point, but it makes him look bad because he is a multi-million dollar, colored quarterback in the national football league. Even though he is protesting for the every day ethnic minority, run of the mill person in this country. African Americans are 10% of this country and about 33% of the victims of police shootings in this country. Now does this take into account whether they are unarmed and innocent? No, it doesn't and it definitely doesn't take into account whether or not the police officer that shot them was innately a "bad apple" or if there were other means that were not violence. The fact is that whenever these stories come out, immediately the Conservatives blame the victim for not complying and the Liberals always blame the cops for using excessive force. And no, this was the wrong way to protest because it makes him look like a buffoon in front of his teammates, management, and the fans who are compensating and cheering on his team. Not to mention, he has probably lost most of the locker room for a 49ers and is ruining all chances he has to land with another team.
Regardless of how you feel, Colin Kaepernick is a low intelligence "has been" NFL Quarterback, who is likely attempting to spring his name in the media because he just got beaten out by Blaine Gabbert and Blaine is beating him by far. Kaepernick really didn't want to play under new Head Coach Chip Kelly and he really didn't want to play for the 49ers altogether. Apparently Colin thinks that he can start elsewhere, but based on what I and most experts think, he will probably just be a career backup. Either that or this media circus will scare people away from the possibility of signing him.
People are allowed to get upset at what he said because it is their given right, but why are we getting upset, making death threats, and burning jerseys because some guy said something that we don't like? Especially when there are actual real world problems that are going on right now that need to be solved. If you are one of those people who served this country, then I praise you, if you waive a flag in a way that makes you feel patriotic, then respect your ability to do that on your own property, and if you don't like what somebody has to say because it is a message that you do not agree with, then I respect your ability to disagree. However, you have to accept that there are people who share different experiences in this country that do not match your own. While I criticize people all of the time, I have never lived in their shoes, not that this means I cannot criticize them, but it is just a thought process that I go into in the reflection process. Love Colin Kaepernick or hate Colin Kaepernick, he is allowed to say and do what he said and did and there is nothing that you or me can do about it.
49ers Quarterback Colin Kaepernick during press conference
