Please rise

Sports stars who protest the national anthem aren’t sending the right message. Athletes like Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers are using their celebrity to show that they are against police brutality. What they’re doing is wrong. It spreads the idea that protesters of police tactics are unpatriotic people who don’t care what is right or wrong. They are inciting discord among fans, the populace and the NFL. It is also disrespectful to veterans and those who lost their lives serving this country.

“The reason these guys are kneeling, the reason we’re locking arms, is to bring people together to make people aware that this is not right,” said Richard Sherman, a quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks. “It’s not right for people to get killed in the street.”  

If the athletes truly want to bring people together, they should stop protesting the national anthem. They’re creating a rift between fans and commentators, the NFL and players. If they want to spread awareness and protest, they should be out there in the streets with the rest of the protesters. Or they could spread their opinions by using social media. 

As the black Army ranger veteran Dorian Majied said, “I understand Kaepernick’s intention; however, I disagree with his means …. He could write his congressman, he could petition, he could picket, he could join the service and actually fight for the rights he seems to think are not offered to him …. There are a myriad of other ways to conduct social protest for people of color.”

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” said Kaepernick. Yet he is a man of color making $126 million and living in a country led by an African-American president. Kaepernick is trying to make his point of view public in a way that could  make the situation worse. 

To quote Majied, “To disrespect the country that has afforded him the opportunities and fortunes he acquired is only made more offensive by the fact that his life is the personification of the ideals I see in the American flag and national anthem: a biracial child, raised by white parents, and who has accomplished much despite his ‘oppression.’ In how many more nations around the world can a story like that come to fruition?”

Kaepernick is using people’s patriotic emotions to anger them. But manipulating people to force them to learn about your cause seems wrong.  People command respect when they are respectful. He has brought to the surface the raw emotions of a nation hurting from the unrest surrounding police brutality. And he has done us a service by waking up America. He just should use his bully pulpit in a more respectful and dignified manner. 

Jacob A. Finch lives in Kent with his parents and is a seventh-grade student at Kent Center School. These are his musings on current events, culture and technology.