It has been nearly two years since Colin Kaepernick first took a kneel for the Star Spangled Banner, making his reasoning very clear: "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color." However, this message has been misconstrued and changed to the idea that he hates this country, but that is a false interpretation. The ones that criticize Kaepernick's protest often stand for the flag without understanding the history of the flag or the anthem because "America First."

Kaepernick’s message was simply to get people to look at ourselves while bringing awareness to a growing issue in a divided country. With the rise of social media, people are seeing behind the scenes instantly what is happening to unarmed African Americans when dealing with law enforcement with people like Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner and many more. These men killed for little to no reason besides the color of their skin.

Somebody needed to speak and take action regarding this cause at the professional level of sports, and that's what Kaepernick did. Athletes are typically quiet on issues like these because it tends to affect their brand affiliations and earnings. Top sports figures have spoken about these issues before and have donated money but hold a limit and try to keep themselves non-controversial. Kaepernick is the first modern day athlete to really try an approach like this, but he isn’t the first ever. Muhammad Ali led a similar path year when he declined to go fight in the Vietnam War saying

this: “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America....they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality…” or when NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the anthem in the mid 1990’s that earned him a suspension. Kaepernick taking the torch is a big torch for future athletes to follow this path.

In society, we are raised as kids listening to how America is the greatest country on earth. The US is better than every other country. We need represent the red, white, and blue. If you don’t agree that the US is #1 then you should leave the country. If we say anything negative about the country then it is assumed that we hate the troops. The government needs to make our military stronger at all costs. Stand for the flag because it is our duty.

Nationalism lies to society. It allows us as a country to run from our problems that we caused and blame others. It manipulates the uneducated to think we are something that we are not. The United States of America simply is not the greatest country on earth. This country is ranked 27th in health and sanitation, 70th in homicide rate, 60th in green gas emissions, 39th in discrimination and violence against minorities, 31st in community safety net and 53rd in primary school education. In reality, it is anything but America First or the greatest country on earth. Lawmakers are failing their constituents in this country by taking advantage the top for their political agenda and limiting the opportunity for people at the bottom by restricting voting rights and taking funding away from primary public schools. That is a large reason why primary education is doing poorly in this country. Politicians just have to say "America First" and a large portion of this country will jump on their ship. Donald Trump has taken advantage of this because he says "America First” all time without addressing the problems of this country such as the education system, discrimination against minorities, climate change, or the homicide rate. If anything he has only put fuel into the fire by making someone who knows nothing about public education the Secretary of Education--Betsy Devos, who tries to limit people of color or with a different religion--getting out of the Paris Agreement which helps slows Climate Change and putting guns before the safety of individuals. This is what “America First” means to him.

Donald Trump has gone after Colin Kaepernick from the start of his protest back in 2016 saying: “I think it's a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him, let him try, it's not gonna happen.” This is a prime example of a person who does not understand the individual he is criticizing, the message Kaepernick is trying to bring, and the history of his own flag or anthem. This is the culture we live in. If you speak up on whats wrong about your country you are told to get out. Trump thinks the flag means military. The flag means anything but that. The United States was not created based on ideas of the military. It represents equality, which its people are not receiving.

Kaepernick has been fighting for people that the system is against. Screw people of color, people who just got dealt a bad society in life growing up in poverty or people with a lack of resources. Kaepernick started a 1 million dollar pledge to groups that are fighting these problems through his organization. Donating to H.O.M.E helps single mothers, Meals On Wheels, which helps veterans and seniors who can’t leave their homes, Leaders Of A Beautiful Struggle, which teaches young minorities to be active politically in their communities, and many other organizations that Kaepernick puts the time in. He has truly wanted to create a difference in this world. And yet he told to leave this country by a sitting US president because he doesn’t stand for a flag. A flag of a country that won’t educate its kids, a flag that represents a genocide of the Native Americans with its stripes, a flag that is only called great by its people because of its military power and a flag that represents a country that will not help its people in need.

We say liberty and justice for all and that is j not reality.