This weekend has brought plenty attention to the NFL since Trump's blurb about kneeling during the National Anthem being grounds for termination. However, what does kneeling actually mean?

When Kaepernick first decided that he would take a knee, many knew what his intentions were: he was protesting the injustices people of color face in regards to police brutality, and the failures this country has had in achieving racial equality.

Driven by his faith, Kaepernick took to kneeling, as he felt that this country needed to be in a better place. Due to the fatal shootings by police last year we can all to come an understanding as to why he did this. Now the real question is, why is the media all of a sudden reigniting the kneeling issue? It's been a year since Kaepernick decided to kneel but this Sunday, after Trump's comments, football teams all over the country took a knee or locked arms in solidarity. However, the media has been misconstruing what taking a knee really meant.

As of now, everyone is under the impression that kneeling is in protest of both Trump, the flag, and the country as a whole. Many veterans and military families are up in arms, taking this as a huge disrespect to those that have fought and died for this country. However, the anger is misguided, kneeling is not and has not ever been a means to disrespect our vets. To be quite frank it had nothing to do with the military at all. The driving force behind taking a knee is to be a constant reminder during our Sunday leisure time that our country isn't in a good place and hasn't been in a good place for a while.

For the most part, I find that people use sports as a time to forget about what's going on in the world. It's a time to enjoy our friends and family and to allow football to momentarily take your mind off the current events of the week. Thus, Kaepernick took it upon himself to be that reminder that while we sit on our asses eating and being merry, there are people being treated differently because they're black. They are being racially profiled, shot, and killed in the streets, or being forced to continue perpetuating a cycle of poverty and incarceration because of the way they are forced to live in minority and inner-city communities. That is what Kaepernick wanted to bring attention to, and lately, the media has done a good job at whitewashing what he sought out to accomplish.

Truthfully I can't even say that I'm proud of the kneeling that took place this weekend and the reason is simple. While Trump is an individual that represents a lot of hateful things for many people, he is not the face of social injustice. Police brutality and racism has been around since my grandparents were small, and to take away from Kaepernick's true intention and replacing it with a simple "opposition to Trump" is what I find truly disrespectful. It's something that isn't so specific that people can finally support it, but what we need to bring to light is the fact that our government, as well as society as a whole, still have institutions in place that make being a minority in America a difficult feat.

I cannot express enough how sorry I am that Veterans feel disrespected by kneeling during the National Anthem, but what needs to be understood is that we don't kneel out of spite for this country, or our military.

We kneel because this country is hurting, and one cannot continue to respect a nation that will constantly deny attacks against our existence.