Everyone is talking about Colin Kaepernick. Why? He is a football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and he chose to sit rather than stand during the pregame National Anthem last Friday. Videos of fans burning his jersey went viral and Twitter users and journalists went on to condemn his acts as “un-American.” Even Nascar driver Tony Stewart, who once killed a man in a race by the way, joined in on the anti-Kaepernick conversation. I find this funny and interesting because it shows how opinionated we are and how much weight we then put into our opinions. I am included in this of course, since here I am writing about the controversy.

I am an American, born and raised. I like this country quite a lot. I love our freedoms and liberties, our opportunities, and our diversity. What I do not love is the still-common racism and societal oppression that exists. I do not like violence or hate. Why did Kaepernick sit? He sat because he did not want “to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” For those who condemn Kaepernick’s expression, have you forgotten that our FIRST amendment to the United States Constitution is freedom of expression, speech, religion, etc?

Forced Nationalism is absurd. Kaepernick did not speak out against our country before being challenged. He did not threaten or target anyone or anything. He simply chose not to STAND UP. Many of us think we are better people because of our opinions. I salute my country, therefore I am a good person.

No.

Neutrality in times of oppression makes you a worse person, in fact. None of this means I am a perfect model member of society. However, all I ask is that you take a look at yourself and how you behave in America before you tell someone else how they are supposed to feel and behave when music plays.

Being the only one sitting while a song is playing makes you look like the odd one out, like the sourpuss in a team of hardy Americans. Maybe that is why he looked so bad. By that logic, I guess Rosa Parks looked pretty bad too for not standing during a time of systematic oppression.

Over the weekend, bombs were dropped on a funeral wake for children in Aleppo, Syria and killed at least 16 people, reports CNN. Why are we not talking about this instead? Many children have been getting killed in Syria lately as bombs continue to be dropped. Maybe we should spend a little more time discussing how to reduce killings here or abroad and less time worrying about burning football jerseys. Maybe if we really wanted to make America great again, we would start teaching our children good values instead of showing them what hate and pettiness look like at their worst.