Athletes Continuing to Sit for the Anthem

Trump and his assistants have argued that the protests are unpatriotic and disrespectful to the flag and those who have fought to protect the US. The players argue that they are exercising their right of “free speech” by not participating in the anthem while standing with their hands over their hearts.

The protest movement started with NFL player, Colin Kaepernick in 2016 against police brutality transforming the protest after Donald Trump got involved with the issue. At first Kaepernick’s movement was not noticed , he started out by sitting on the bench during the anthem. He slowly transitioned to taking a knee to show more respect for those who fought for this country. He began to receive more backlash from taking a knee, than he did when he sat on the bench.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people, and people of colour," Kaepernick said in a press conference after first sitting out during the anthem. "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."

The repercussion that these teams received was the team would be fined if players made the decision to take a knee during the national anthem.

In my opinion everyone has the right to express their will of “free speech”, and in this case these players where doing it for a reason. It’s not like these players where just not standing for the anthem just because they didn’t want to. But it is because these individuals where standing up for something that they believed in. Although some people did not agree with these players and thought that politics should be kept out of sports. These players did not let what their fans thought about them effect what they were standing for. Like these players, I stand for this movement and believe that they are doing the right thing. Everyone is entitled to their right of free speech.