If you've been paying attention to the news or just logged onto your Facebook in the last week you know that Colin Kaepernick has decided to sit during the National Anthem. You are also aware even more how divided our country is when it comes to this movement.

Kaepernick said this "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media after Friday's game. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." You can find the whole article on the ESPN website

I will admit I struggled with his choice to sit until I thought long and hard about what he was doing and why he was doing it. Personally, I have never been a 49ers fan nor have I been a fan of Kaepernick therefore I was ready to be completely against what he was doing, but I support it. I am a huge supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. We live in a society that is afraid to disagree with others. You do not have to agree with his choice or even support it, but I do need to respect it, because there isn't a law that says you have to stand during the national anthem. I feel like more people should be supporting this: he is peacefully protesting while there are people who are wrecking towns over the fact they feel that this country is not fair to minorities. I am left curious to why we are so stuck on the fact he is sitting rather than why he is sitting. Why are people begging for change while we sit on our couches complaining about a football player who decided to protest for those who live in fear that if they go out on the streets they'll be harassed or even killed? Why are we not listening?

I think we need to realize this issue is bigger than sitting at a football game. This isn't some football player who is throwing a fit. He is standing up for a real issue. He isn't just running his mouth via twitter. He is putting his money where his mouth is, literally, because he could lose endorsements and even his place on the 49ers. People are dying and no one seems to care. Ask yourself if it were black cops killing white people, would you care then? It amazes me how we see the footage and we make excuses for these lives that have been lost.

According to the Census minorities will be in the majority. What if you become the minority and the world starts treating you like you're a criminal for no reason would you want the world to support your fight for equality?

I do understand that people feel that his actions are disrespectful, but people being murdered for their attitude is pretty disrespectful if you ask me. He's not harming anyone therefore I have a huge issue understanding the disrespect. He has not bashed this country all he is doing is using his status to bring to light an issue that we've had in our country for many many years. If you don't think racism is still an issue go to some of the comments on national news on this topic and read what people have been writing then come back to me and tell me people aren't racist.

We do have issues in this country. We have many issues. We have no issue with political leaders telling us that we need to change; why are you so against a football player? Why do we live in a society that tells people to fight for what they believe in then we tear them down when they do because we don't like their approach or what they are standing up for. Our rights are our rights. We have the right to disagree, we have the right to sit during the anthem, and we have the right to feel this country needs change.

Calling Kaepernick every name in the book and saying you will make him stand up during the anthem if anything you're proving his entire point. What people want from this country and I personally feel we have strayed away from is: compassion. We should be fighting with minorities and try to hear what they are saying rather than shooting it down with comments like "It's always the race card." "Quit crying." Things will stop being about race when race is no longer an issue, and people will stop crying when middle-schoolers aren't being thrown in jail because their clock gets mistaken for a bomb, or when people stop being choked to death by cops. Also, comments like "don't be disrespectful to cops." Someone once told me respect is a two way street if cops approach certain situations with the same respect they demand than maybe they wouldn't get disrespect. Being disrespectful shouldn't end in you being in a body bag, ever.

This issue is so much more than sitting down during a national anthem. If you don't see that than maybe you are part of the issue. Kaepernick may be sitting but he is standing up for what he believes in, and I choose to support him, because I wouldn't like it if my peers were dying.