Football Games: Not a Place for Protest

These past two weeks, football players have been kneeling, not attending, or linking their arms during the national anthem at games around the country. Many players believe that this is a show of unity and against injustice in the US. However, this is mostly disrespecting our nation and all that it stands for. President Donald Trump’s recent twitter comments saying to fire these players who have knelt for the anthem have caused team owners and head coaches to boycott the anthem, either by remaining inside the locker rooms or link arms. The points of these protests are supposedly to protest inequality within the US, however the are hypocrites themselves, most NFL players have never done anything to help change the balance of society. Adding onto that, these protests are dividing Americans and causing friction between different groups, the opposite intent of these demonstrations. All these players are doing is causing more controversy while not making any worthwhile change. Around half the schools in our nation require the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance, something that shows our national pride. These players are sending messages that it’s ok to disrespect our nation. Having been raised in America, I was taught that the Pledge of Allegiance was something that someone would be proud to say. One of the traditions that our school had was to ask each class send one or two people to recite the Pledge to the school over the intercom. This was considered a great privilege and something everyone in the class wanted to do..

The only people who have contributed anything to this issue was Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers who each pledged 1 million dollars to the cause. Moreover, each in each NFL game, the announcers ask the crowd to stand up and respect the anthem, something their own players won’t do. These owners won’t do what they ask their fans to do, stand up and respect our flag, our country and our heritage. There always has been racial injustice in this country, whether you like it or not, why choose now to protest when it has been here since the founding of this nation? In the most recent Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens were kneeling during a prayer for unity, equality and justice, their own fans booed them for kneeling. People are getting impatient with this issue and it seems for at least most fans, the only option is to stand.

When Colin Kaepernick first kneeled for the anthem, he was protesting inequality but the issue now is that these protests have turned to anti-Trump demonstrations, due to their dislike of the president. Protests against the president are fine, there are always people who do not approve of the administration and the government. However, football games are not the place for protesting against Trump. Instead of protesting against him, they are instead disrespecting the nation and what it represents, not the president. If these players want to actually make change, then do something on their off days, they have Monday through Saturday to protest.

There seems to be no compromise area in this issue, but there are a few ways this problem could be solved. One, by abolishing the national anthem at games, and just not playing it, which was done before 2009, when it was not required to play the anthem. Two, force all players to one action, stand and respect the anthem, or be fined and if done repeatedly, having their contracts terminated. Kneeling also seems like a bad idea for players, Colin Kaepernick, who was the first to kneel for the anthem, is now without a job due to most franchises not wanting too much controversy around the subject. Players should stand for the anthem and respect the flag, not just for respect for the nation and its ideals but to save their jobs and reputations.