San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is causing major news because he did not stand during the national anthem. His reasons for not standing is the constant brutality, injustice, racism and oppression towards black people. With these concrete reasons, which many people understand, however, coughs-a certain group of people the Europeans feel differently. With racism, discrimination, racial injustices constantly against people of color, Colin’s protesting the national anthem was the right thing to do and the courageous thing to do.
History Recap: Frances Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner and the song is about taken satisfaction in killing black slaves. Why? they fought alongside the British in the War of 1812 when the U.S. attempted to aggressively take Canada from the British empire. In the end of the third verse, it states:
“No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave”. Star Spangled Banner
The “Star Spangled Banner” is singing about the killing of slaves, innocent people treated as second-class citizens, innocent people treated inhumanly and these coughs-other people-Europeans are upset about a BLACK MAN not singing to a flag that killed and continues to kill his people. Furthermore, it is ignorant these coughs-other people-Europeans are blatantly ignoring this fact of the “Star Spangled Banner” and this illustrates they do not care about the injustices of black people and the oppression we constantly face. The “greatest country” wrote a song about killing people, and it is despicable millions of people were taught this terrible “national anthem”, especially black people because we were singing an “anthem” glorifying the killing of our own people. There is no absolute reason for people to be upset at Colin Kaepernick for not participating in the singing of an appalling “national anthem”.
News-One Roland’s Martin recently interviewed actor and activists Harry Belafonte, and Mr. Belafonte made an excellent point. He stated, in an era of many black celebrities, it is shameful to see such a large absence of these celebrities in the black community. It is alarming these celebrities are not active enough nor participate in changing the system that oppresses black people. During the era of Muhammad Ali and Jesse Owens every black celebrity stood up in the black community, they did not care if they lost their status, jobs or would not ever be famous again. They stood in solidarity because they knew and understood it was injustice and inhumane for black people to be treated as a second class citizens.
Colin Kaepernick did not do anything wrong for not standing during the “national anthem”, and it is not a big deal. This has nothing to do with patriotism, it deals with morality, and Colin is demonstrating who he is and what he believes in.
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