I'm going to lay it all out on the table, friends, because this is ridiculous and, truthfully, embarrassing. From a very young age, we are taught about freedom. We learn the Pledge of Allegiance, the National Anthem and other patriotic songs and we write essays on that wide-lined paper about what it all means to us with backwards flags drawn all around it.

As far as kids are concerned, as long as something isn't against the rules or doesn't hurt another person, we can do whatever we want because we live in America. Guess what? Still true, no matter how old you are.

I am ashamed for some of you who have so quickly forgotten what freedom means. To you, to me, to people of color, to anyone oppressed. That you've forgotten that those people might not live in the same America you do. So quickly you're willing to project your experience onto everyone else, as if this country is perfect. Equal, balanced, just.

If you think it is, wake the hell up.

I refuse to sit here and copy and paste links to scholarly content that will teach you about racism, because let's be honest, if you're still racist (and yes, people who deny racism exists count - they count plenty), you won't open your minds and read it anyway. I won't repeat the Kaepernick story to you, because it's assumed that if you're reading this, you don't live under a rock, and therefore have heard it already or are capable of using Google.

Listen: there is no coherent, intelligent way to say that someone shouldn't be able to sit during the National Anthem that doesn't make you sound like a fool.

Freedom, remember?

Racism is a problem and police brutality is a problem and they are STILL problems even if they're not happening to you. Please recognize that. You don't get to tell other people how they should feel and you certainly don't get to pretend to know what it's like to be oppressed if you aren't. Yes, Colin Kaepernick is successful and lives what we perceive as a fairly good life. But he's black and faces things that no white person can ever understand. He feels for his brothers and sisters who have lost their lives for no good reason. He has a platform and he used it. Imagine that!

If you used the it's-disrespectful-because-people-died-for-his-freedom argument, you owe veterans an apology for speaking on their behalf. You don't get to do that.

I urge you, whether you agree with the freedom to sit during the National Anthem or not, to check out the twitter hashtag #VeteransForKaepernick. The amount of people who have actually fought for this country and support him is incredible. They all assure Americans that they fought for his right to protest what kind of shape this country is in, not a song. Some of them even went as far as to admit that they sit as well. Veterans, sitting during the National Anthem. It's a possibility, guys.

Don't say he should leave the country without thinking about the fire behind that statement. You're spitting out hatred and intolerance for anyone who doesn't just accept everything about America. You're suggesting that it would be easier to get rid of those who don't agree with the horrible things going on rather than fix them.
No, you don't care more about America than those people. You care significantly less.

It's just a song, people, and while it holds plenty of important meaning, none of that should matter when we still haven't quite figured out how to give everyone here the equal opportunity we claim to label "freedom".

What kind of place forces you to do something? And since when is that freedom? Look at the claims from a different perspective and I can promise you it makes a difference.

All I ask is that you educate yourselves, read up on topics, and think before you speak. And remember: while what he - and other activists - are doing is important, there are much bigger things to worry (and get angry) about.

I'm gonna jump down from my soapbox for now and hope you'll do the same.