On August 27th, Colin Kaepernick made waves when he decided to sit during the national anthem before the 49ers' preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Now myself, like many other conservatives, did not approve of Kaepernick sitting down. However, I have absolutely zero issue with him taking a knee. In my own opinion, there is a difference between sitting on the bench twiddling your thumbs while the national anthem is playing and taking a knee while the national anthem is playing. For myself, I see the national anthem as a time to respect all those who have died carrying that flag on their arm as they went into battle for my right to speak my opinion and Kaepernick’s right to sit during the national anthem. I applauded Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee rather than sit because of the fact that I felt that still gave the military the respect that they deserved, while also bringing attention to the issue. Others have various opinions about Kaepernick’s actions and the most controversial comments were made by ESPN’s Trent Dilfer.
In part of his rant, Dilfer says, "No matter how passionate you are, no matter how much of a burden you have for a social issue, you don't let it get in the way of the team." To many who sided with Kaepernick, this was viewed as a detractor who was telling Kaepernick to shut up about his social issue and sit on the bench in peace. While to a degree that was what Dilfer was saying, many are misconstruing the message. What I took away from Dilfer’s comments is that football field is not the place to promote your social platform because there is a very good chance that it can create division within a team and your goal as a football team is to play as one cohesive unit. Dilfer is right to a degree -- the 49ers aren’t paying Colin Kaepernick to be a distraction on the field; but rather, they are paying him to help the team prepare for the game and to be prepared for a game if he is needed. I would be one of those who would agree with Dilfer’s thoughts that Kaepernick’s social platform should not be pushed on the football field. There are plenty of players in the NFL that are socially active, but they don’t use the field as a platform to push that social issue that they are fighting for. They use the free time that they have and social media to make others more aware of what issues we should be concerned about and Kaepernick shouldn’t be an exception just because of the cause that he is choosing to get behind.
However, for me, the timing for this has always been slightly suspect. From 2012 up until this season, Kaepernick has been the starter for the San Francisco 49ers as long as he was healthy. With a shakeup in the coaching staff over the past few years, Kaepernick has found his way from starting quarterback to backup. The origins of the Black Lives Matter movement can be traced back to back in 2012, when Trayvon Martin was killed in a Florida suburb. After this instance there was some outrage by the black community in professional sports, Colin Kaepernick was not one of them. When Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice were killed in 2014, Colin Kaepernick was not one of the athletes to make a statement. It was not until December of 2015; following the death of Sandra Bland that Colin Kaepernick started to make statements in line with the Black Lives Matter movement. During this time, Kaepernick was injured and his backup and current 49ers’ starting quarterback, Blaine Gabbert, was showing up Kaepernick and it looked as though even when Kaepernick would be healthy he be sitting behind Gabbert that his tone on the issue changed. I am not claiming to know if Sandra Bland’s death when Kaepernick decided that he could no longer be silent, but the timing does seem to be suspect.
If Colin is truly behind this effort, I am all for him being socially active. However, if this is all to stay in the limelight, I have a problem with what he is doing. He shouldn’t be using such a divisive and important social issue to be latching onto so that he can stay in the spotlight that he may have grown to love. He has shown that he is willing to make a bold statement, so it may be that he is legitimately behind the Black Lives Matter movement, which is awesome because many millennials aren't social or politically active. There is also a proper way to go about spreading awareness for your social issue and the football field is not the place. Trent Dilfer is saying that Colin Kaepernick is not an exception to this idea and shouldn’t be treated as such.
