A new trend has arose where NFL athletes are protesting against the national anthem. The person that started this trend was Colin Kaepernick, a 28 year old quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.

Colin first started this protest on August 14th, when he sat during the national anthem. This action has created massive amounts of controversy and is receiving a lot of attention. Additionally, this trend is also spreading to other NFL teams.

For example, on September 8th, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall took a knee during the anthem ahead of a game against the Carolina Panthers. This trend is not only spreading to other NFL athletes but is also spreading to high school and college students.

As of September 24th, Michigan football players have adopted this trend and are raising their fists up in protest during the anthem. This is not just a small trend occurring minimally, on the contrary, these protests are being replicated in a massive scale. In Aurora Central High School, three-quarters of the 44 Aurora Central Trojans football players knelt during the national anthem.

The reason why these protests have been so popular and controversial is because of the reasoning behind holding the protest. Colin Kaepernick, the first protester, started this trend because “[he was] going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” This is where most of the controversy has been centered around.

Although Kaepernick has the right to do this since it is a form of freedom of expression, the main question is: Should he do it? The reason he protested on such a big stage was that he wanted to use his position as a celebrity in order bring attention to the issue. Colin stated that “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.”

Although Kaepernick had good intentions, most people do not agree with him. Currently, more than one third (32%) of adults say they are less likely to watch a NFL game because of the Kaepernick-led protests. Due to this, NFL ratings have decreased massively across all networks.

Even though Kaepernick had good intentions, the way he approached the situation was terrible. I understand that America is a free country and that he has the right to voice his opinions, however, not standing during the national anthem holds many implicit meanings and looks like utter disrespect to the country.

There is also this same conflict of opinions in ISB, Ben, a 10th grade student said “it is a form of freedom of expression and therefore, I have no problems with it.” However, another 10th grade student said “I respect Colin Kaepernick’s decision to exercise his freedom of speech, but I do not respect his distasteful and disrespectful actions.”

Voicing his opinion in such a manner is almost asking for controversy, especially in a stage with such a massive audience. Even Ruth Ginsburg, a justice of the supreme court, called these protests “dumb and disrespectful.” Although Kaepernick may be being disrespectful, he still has good intentions, currently Kaepernick has announced a donation of 1 million dollars to organizations against racial issues.

In conclusion, the audience’s response to this situation has been mostly mixed, some are outraged and have started to stop watching the NFL games, while some are adopting the trend, supporting the cause. All in all, although this may not be the best way to tackle the situation, Kaepernick had good intentions and is still donating a million dollars to charity.

Adarsh Abbagani