I recently read an Odyssey article titled "Call It What You Want, But Disrespecting The National Anthem Is Hate Speech" and it made my blood boil. Personally, it made my blood boil because of who I am as a person and the career path I have chosen for myself. I am a social work student, so my schooling is focused very differently than others that I know.

The thing that people and the country as a whole need to understand is that the NFL players are not kneeling to disrespect the flag, and they have never been kneeling to disrespect the flag and the national anthem. Yes, they are protesting something that is going on in our country, but they are doing so peacefully. The author of this article asks "Will any of this ever stop?" and if our African American citizens ever stop getting treated unfairly it will stop. If police brutality ever ends, the kneeling during the national anthem will stop.

They are kneeling during the anthem because they know that a large percentage of our country is watching them on Sundays. The players that are choosing to kneel know that if they kneel people will talk about it, and they hope that the country will start to realize that the police are treating African Americans unfairly and are being very brutal with them.

The players that are kneeling during the national anthem are doing so because they believe that they are protesting for civil rights. They are being peaceful; they are not burning the flag or rioting about it. That being said, fighting and protesting for civil rights is not "the new thing to do" and we should all be protesting for equality and civil rights.

The girl who wrote this article says "I dare you to talk to any veteran and any active military member and you are 100% entirely disrespecting the flag and all that comes along with it." However, I know that this is not true. I know people who are veterans that will say 'you have the right to do that, and I agree with what you are doing'.

That being said, I'm not saying that I have ever or will ever kneel for the anthem. However, I understand why people are doing it, and the fact of the matter is that it is their right to do so since they are not disrespectful in doing so. These athletes are protesting that something is wrong in our country and that something needs to change. If you are a person who sees this as disrespect and doesn't understand that they are doing this to take a stand, you are part of the problem.