Monday night, while sitting with a handful of my roommates, I heard my phone go off from the other room. As I got up from where I was sitting to check the notification, I noticed that it was a text message from my Dad, displaying the image of an article title reading "Colin Kaepernick Part Of Nike's 30th Anniversary Of 'Just Do It' Campaign."
Maybe it's due to my lack of sports knowledge or keeping up with the latest and greatest Apple News, but I genuinely had not a clue what this message was referring to. I turned to my friends, showed them the screen, and said, "What is this all about?"
"Everyone's mad Nike hired him because he doesn't stand for the national anthem," one of them quickly replied back.
"What?" I thought.
Even more confused now then I was initially, I turned to Google for the answers to all of my questions.
"Why doesn't he stand?" I kept thinking.
After clicking back and forth through a handful of articles, the story soon became more clear.
The former NFL quarterback is well-known due to the fact that he refuses to stand for the national anthem. According to Kaepernick, this is his way of protesting police brutality toward the African-American race.
After the news was released that Kaepernick was the new face for Nike's 30th-anniversary campaign, Nike consumers were outraged that the brand would hire an individual who blatantly and openly disrespected their country and freedom. Nike consumers showed their extreme rage with the company by posting videos on social media of them burning all types of Nike apparel and bashing their decision to have Kaepernick be the newest face of their company.
When it comes to my personal opinion on the topic, my mind goes right to a tweet a remember seeing just a few months ago. It displayed an image of a man in uniform, sitting on the floor of what appeared to be an airport, with his iPhone in hand. The caption read something along the lines of: "This man had to witness the birth of his child via iPhone due to the fact that he chose to serve his country. If you can't find a reason to stand for the national athem, here's one."
No matter what struggles we, as Americans, face within our country; No matter what hardships may seem impossible to fix, all Americans should find the pride and honor to stand for the national anthem and show respect for the country that has given them their freedom and should respect those who are constantly fighting so you can have it.
No matter what is going on in an individual's lives, respect truly needs to be shown, at least, for the many men and women who serve our country and keep us safe.
