On August 26^th, 2016, Colin Kapernick took a stand by deciding not to standing for the national anthem. When asked why didn’t he stand for the national anthem, he explained:

“Ultimately, it’s to bring awareness and make people realize what really going on in this country There are a lot of things that are going on that are unjust. People aren’t being held accountable for. And that’s something that needs to change. That’s something that this country stands for freedom, liberty and justice for all. And it’s not happening for all right now… There’s a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality. There’s people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. People are being given paid leave for killing people. That’s not right. That’s not right by anyone’s standards… I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone. That’s not happening. People are dying in vain because this country isn’t holding their end of the bargain up, as far as giving freedom and justice, liberty to everybody. That’s something that’s not happening. I’ve seen videos, I’ve seen circumstances where men and women that have been in the military have come back and been treated unjustly by the country they have fought for, and have been murdered by the country they fought for, on our land. That’s not right… There is police brutality. People of color have been targeted by police. So that’s a large part of it and they’re government officials. They are put in place by the government. So that’s something that this country has to change. There’s things we can do to hold them more accountable. Make those standards higher. You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist. That’s insane. Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and more training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us.” If you would like to read Kaepernick’s full explanation you can click here.

Apparently,not standing for the national anthem was the worst thing he could have possibly done. According to former NFL Quarterback Boom Esiason:

“I cannot say it in the strongest most direct way that it’s an embarrassment and it’s about as disrespectful as any athlete has ever been. The NFL football field is not a place for someone to further their political ambitions. Put on that blue police uniform and put the shield on and see what it’s like to put your life in harm’s way every single day and then get back to me when you’re making $35,000 or $40,000 a year as opposed to the $11 million that he’s making.”

According to New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees:

“I wholeheartedly disagree. Not that he wants to speak out about a very important issue. No, he can speak out about a very important issue. But there’s plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the American flag.”

I won’t waste my time quoting any of the idiot right wing talk show hosts or Fox News hosts. They enjoy press negative or positive. They are racist, xenophobic, bigoted, simpletons and I refuse to even mention their names to give them that press. Instead, I will address the comments made by Boomer Esiason, Drew Brees and various people, mostly right wingers who share similar sentiments to Brees and Esiason. The idiots who are clearly racist are not the biggest problem that America faces today. They are the minority. America is changing and has changed a lot. We are a much better country that we were in the 1940s. We showed how much America has changed by electing our first black president Barack Obama in 2008 and re-electing him in 2012.

Although we have come a long way since the 1940s and have even come a long way since 2000, we have a long way to go to be considered a great nation. Most people whether White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Muslim etc. are good people. The biggest problem we have are those who are good people who can diagnose the problem but won’t do anything to solve the problem because it doesn’t affect them. They benefit from the status quo, so why change it? Even if they don’t benefit from the status quo, things aren’t too bad for them so they wallow through life not caring to stand up for injustices that they witness. They don’t want to speak out on certain issues because it makes them uncomfortable and when people peacefully protest, they disapprove the method that they took.

I have a question and this questions addresses Drew Brees’ statement “Not that he wants to speak out about a very important issue. No, he can speak out about a very important issue. But there’s plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the America flag.”

Exactly what did you want Kaepernick to do? Was he supposed to just randomly express the injustices that he sees in a press conference talking about his performance? You know the media would have given no merit to that and no one would have known about it. Drew Brees, what the hell do you think a protest is? If a protest gets no attention, what’s the point of protesting? Furthermore, instead of addressing the issue that Kaepernick brought to light, you criticize the process. You are the epitome of what’s wrong with America. I don’t see you outraged about the Drug War who John Ehrlichman, Richard Nixon’s top aide admitted was meant to target blacks and the anti-war left. Ehrlichman stated:

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."

That policy is of course still in place today. I don’t see you outraged over the fact that in 2015, 102 unarmed blacks were murdered by police compared to 20 unarmed whites in spite of the fact that in 2015, 73 percent of all police murders were done by white people. Brees goes on to talk about the military and how when he looks at the flag and he thinks about the military and how Kaepernick not standing is disrespectful to our soldiers.

Drew, you don’t seem outraged that this country does not serve the people that protect this nation that gives you the right to play football and gives Colin Kaepernick the right to choose to sit down during the anthem. If standing for the national anthem was compulsory, we don’t have freedom, we have tyranny. In other words, if standing for the national anthem was required, it does not make you patriotic. You would be doing it because it’s law. If you want to live in a place where the government requires you to do things, you are un-American. In fact, Colin Kaepernick exercising his right not to stand for the national anthem shows he is more patriotic and more American than you are.

Drew, you are more outraged at the fact that Colin Kaepernick decided not to stand for the national anthem than the fact that the Senate rejected the most comprehensive bill for our veterans in US History. You can click here to read about it. Only two republicans voted for this bill. So all of you republicans out there feigning outrage, YOU are disrespecting our vets by voting for people who will never or has never done anything to help our vets.

The majority of you who are outraged do nothing to help our vets. How many of you have actually donated to our vets? When you see homeless vets, how many of you actually give them food or money? I can honestly say, anytime I have money and I see a homeless person on the street, I give them money every single time. If it’s a vet, I give them a little bit extra. I, unlike most of you hack hypocrites legitimately care about people and change. A few years ago, I quit my job to volunteer at a Not for Profit “East Flatbush Village, Inc.” because I actually care about change and the issues going on in my community and America. Everyone feigning outrage, please spare me.

Now addressing Boomer Esiason’s comment:

“I cannot say it in the strongest most direct way that it’s an embarrassment and it’s about as disrespectful as any athlete has ever been.”

Are you stupid? No serious Boomer, are you dense? This question applies to everyone with similar thoughts. This is the most disrespectful any athlete has been? Giants kicker Josh Brown who physically abused his wife more than 20 times is not more disrespectful in your silly little mind? Then you go on to say:

“The NFL football field is not a place for someone to further their political ambitions.”

First off, who the hell says Colin Kaepernick has political ambitions? You totally made that up. Kaepernick is speaking about an issue that most people refuse to speak about or bring attention to. You want him to sit down and shut up. If that’s the country you want Boomer, try living in North Korea. You’ll love it.

He continues “Put on that blue police uniform and put the shield on and see what it’s like to put your life in harm’s way every single day and then get back to me when you’re making $35,000 or $40,000 a year as opposed to the $11 million that he’s making.”

So you’re saying that just because he’s rich, he shouldn’t talk about injustices and oppression that the black communities face. A friend of mine named Josh responded to a similar comment made, perfectly. He said “Those of you saying he (Colin Kaepernick) can't speak up about oppression because he's rich, stop. That's like saying someone can't speak about suicide prevention because they're alive." That position specifically represents the anti-intellectualism that oppresses all non-rich folk in this country and the reason it takes so long to solve many issues. You’re being lazy minded. Instead of taking the time to address the issue at hand, you’re using Kaepernick action and his current wealth as a scapegoat not to address the real issues Kaepernick spoke about which are the oppression of blacks in this country and how the police officer don’t have sufficient training. That is a logical fallacy that helps you sleep at night because you would rather not address the problem.

I used to play football, I can say I have never put my hand over my heart for the national anthem because I didn’t believe in the words. What the national anthem supposedly represents to White America, it did not represent that for me. I will never forget at age 13, I walked back from the store and three undercover officers jumped out of a big van. One pulled a gun on me and threatened to shoot me. I had no idea what was going on. They just wanted to check to see if I had drugs. These men were in street clothing not driving a cop’s car. Had my human instinct kicked in a bit faster to run, I would have lost my life at the age of 13 two doors down from my grandmother’s house with skittles in my pocket and an Arizona in my hand that my grandmother had sent me to buy. That month alone, I was stopped six times by the police. That’s the America I live in. The America that privileged or poor white people live in is much different. Cops assume you’re a good person. You’re innocent until proven guilty. Us colored people, are guilty until proven innocent.

Anyone that lives in America or loves the ideals of America should never stand for the national anthem. You believe the national anthem stands for freedom but it doesn’t. It stands for freedom for some not for all. You don’t believe me? Well, here is the third verse of the national anthem that you probably never heard of:

"And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave."

So every black person in America should feel extremely offended by the national anthem. Every non racist should be offended as well. The conversation instead of being about Kaepernick not standing for an anthem that does not represent black people, it should be about the issues we face and about getting rid of this national anthem and replacing it with a more inclusive, an all-inclusive national anthem. We know the anthem was written for straight white males. If you are a woman, gay, Hispanic, Asian, Muslim and definitely Black, the national anthem was not written for you. If the national anthem offends you and you want to change it, you can help out by clicking here to sign the petition to change the national anthem. If you want to be proactive to help better the country you live in, I’m going to quote Colin Kaepernick “I wish they treated police brutality like they’re treating me for standing up against it.” You can contribute to Not for Profits like East Flatbush Village, Inc. Who do everything they can to better their communities by clicking here. The staff members at East Flatbush Village are working their hearts out to better the America they live in and are barely paid for it. Trust me, I know. You can also contribute to any local nonprofit in your community that is helping to change America to make it a better place. I can guarantee you that sitting on your ass and complaining on twitter will do absolutely nothing. Be the change you want to see.

In closing, I will leave you with this quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail that encompasses what I expressed in this article in a single paragraph. That was the genius of the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."