Colin Kaepernick Not Standing For The National Anthem Is A Problem.

Colin Kaepernick, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, decided to make a statement during a preseason game. He did not stand and put his hand over his heart for the national anthem and cited racial oppression as his reasoning. Now, what you think about Colin Kaepernick as a player is irrelevant. The problem lies in how the situation was handled by the NFL and Colin himself. The NFL issued a statement regarding Colin Kaepernick's actions. "The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pregame ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose to participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem." There a few reasons why this statement from the NFL is ridiculous. The first reason is that the NFL has prided itself on patriotism and supporting America. Every game starts with a flag being stretched over the field, often held by military members, and almost every game has a "Service Member of the game". So, if the NFL is going to make the national anthem such a big deal, why shouldn't they have all players stand? Regardless of beliefs, the NFL is supposed to bring people together, and when you have people like Colin Kaepernick who use that time to make a statement or to protest, they are alienating people. Another reason the NFL got the situation wrong has to do with the history of the NFL shutting people down when they want to make their own statements. Recently, the Dallas Cowboys decided to wear a sticker on their helmets that says "Arm In Arm" to commemorate the five Dallas police officers who were murdered in cold blood. The NFL would not allow them to do this because it would violate uniform codes. What harm could possibly come to the game or the players by wearing a sticker on their helmet? None. So the problem we have is that the NFL is incredibly inconsistent. If they didn't allow the Cowboys to wear the sticker on their helmet, they shouldn't have allowed Colin Kaepernick to sit during the anthem.

Now, with Colin Kaepernick's handling of the situation, there were several problems. Colin's reason for not standing for the anthem was "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 on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." Oh really Colin? You mean to tell me that this country that allows African Americans to make up 66% of NFL players, 76% of NBA players, and 8% of of MLB players, and allows these people to make millions of dollars to play sports, is oppressing black people? The country that has a black president and a black attorney general? As I wrote in a previous article on Black Lives Matter(Click here for that article), there is not an inherent problem of black people being shot down, and when it happens, the officers do not get "paid leave" or get away with murder. If there was a problem though, and since Colin thinks there is, what is he doing to help? He has all these millions of dollars so he must be using it for good right? Nope. Colin has never donated any of his $19 million per year to the Black Lives Matter cause. He has also never donated to any sort of police academy to promote better training for officers. Also, Colin Kaepernick seems to feel like he can speak from experience on the struggles of black Americans even though he has never been oppressed, and he never will be. Colin was adopted by two suburban white parents, raised in suburban California, and found his talent for football at a young age. He went to the University of Nevada, Reno on scholarship, and was drafted in the second round of the NFL draft of 2011. Such a harrowing story of overcoming racism, right? Wrong. Colin never suffered from racism and has absolutely no idea what it is like to be discriminated based on his skin color. So yes Colin, you are selfish. You are selfish for sitting on the bench and not honoring the people who died for your right to sit. Now, this is were I want to get into rights. It is not my point in this article to say that Colin does not have the right to sit for the anthem. He absolutely does. But that does not mean he doesn't have to face scrutiny, and it certainly doesn't mean I can't voice my opinion on it. Again, the problem does not lie in the action, it lies in his reasoning and the NFL and Colin Kaepernick's handling of the situation.