The dispute over Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling campaign is still building steam over a year since its inception and with mentions from the presidential twitter he has found himself in the limelight of a national debate. In August of 2016 Colin Kaepernick sat down during the playing of the national anthem before an NFL game as a form of protest against the “oppression of black people and people of color (Sandritter).” At the time Kaepernick did not know that this would explode into one of the most talked about topics in the United States.  

¶It all started when a photographer noticed that Kaepernick was sitting on the bench during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner before an NFL game. Once the image surfaced there was immediate backlash towards Kaepernick about the amount of disrespect he was showing to the country and the soldiers who fought to protect it. One analyst from CBS, Boomer Esiason, called Kaepernick’s action “one of the most disgraceful displays I’ve ever seen by a professional athlete on his field of play (Walker).” When Kaepernick was questioned about his reasons in the post-game interview he said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” He continued, “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 (Sandritter).” This is the first time that the forty-niners quarterback told the press about his mission to end police brutality and the oppression of African Americans.

¶After the story broke the media was quick to judge and this caused his message to be overshadowed by his critics. Edmund A. Nelson of Timonium said “Too many have sacrificed too much to make the American flag an icon of our nation with the liberties, patriotism and the freedoms our society enjoys for us to make an individual who demeans it an object of loyalty and praise (Walker).”  Kaepernick followed the previous week by meeting with a former member of the United States Army Special Forces and current NFL long snapper Nate Boyer. After talking to Boyer, Kaepernick decided kneeling was “a way to show more respect to the men and women who fight for this country (Sandritter)." Kaepernick thought this would help get his message back on track, however, people did not seem to care about the switch in positions and still thought he was being unpatriotic. 

¶Kaepernick’s perseverance through the crosshairs of the media payed off because he was able to reach out to followers beyond the NFL. Soon players from the National Basketball Association (NBA), Women’s Basketball Association (WNBA) and the United States women’s soccer team were kneeling as well (Joseph). Throughout the season his movement gained followers in the NFL and the league started trying to cover up his message by repeatedly referring to groups of players who knelt during the anthem as a showing of unity and not protest. Some of the players on the Miami Dolphins even had a warm up t-shirt that read “I’m with Kap,” Kap referring to Kaepernick (Sandritter).  The protest even gained the attention of President Donald Trump when he insulted the players who knelt multiple times. He even went as far as to call the players kneeling “sons of bitches” who should be fired for disrespecting the flag and that Kaepernick should “find a country that works better for him” (Marston and Walker). 

¶While Kaepernick did end up getting let go at the end of the season, it was due to his poor play on the field and a struggling franchise that cleaned house and started their team and coaching staff from scratch. Since his release Kaepernick has not been able to sign with another team, this is in part due to all the media attention that comes with signing the hotly debated back-up quarterback. A former NFL general manager has said that it would be a team’s “worst nightmare” to sign Kaepernick and be in the crosshairs of the President (Sandritter). While most of the media and our president might have the public believing that Kaepernick has no respect for this country, he is actually sticking up for the constitution and fighting for what this country was founded for, liberty and justice for all. 

¶(Deleted text)Patriotism can be defined as showing vigorous support for one’s country. For example, when an entire stadium chants “U! S! A! U! S! A!” this would be a group of patriotic people showing support for their country. This is a great representation of (Deleted text) love people have for this country, but, would this be considered a patriotic act? Does a patriotic act require some sort of self-sacrifice or risk similar to how Muhammad Ali sacrificed his career? Is a patriotic act any type of affection shown for one’s country? If so does that include acts as small as chanting three letters in unison with less than a tenth of a percent of the population? Would Hitler’s overthrow of the German government be considered a patriotic act because he thought he was doing what was best for his country? People tend to agree that patriotism is loving your country but differ on how to show and use it to make this country even better. This is what makes patriotic acts an arguable topic because so many people have their own unique definition of it based on the time, their past experiences, and the public agenda. (Deleted text) Kaepernick is performing a patriotic act by fighting for his countries primary values, making a sacrifice in the process and by physically contributing to the cause.

Whether the patriot knows it or not money, power, career, and reputation are all on the line when performing a patriotic act. This is because a patriotic act must involve risk and sacrifices on the way to trying to better the country. The article “Insulting Colin Kaepernick Says More About Our Patriotism Than His” summarizes a variety of patriotic acts and past risks that patriots have met head on. It was written by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a former cultural ambassador for the United States and accredited author who said that a true patriotic act isn’t just about the “lip-service” or promoting the cause but when it “involves personal risk or sacrifice” (Abdul-Jabbar). For example, Army Reserve Second Lieutenant Sam Kendricks stopped in the middle of his Olympic pole vaulting attempt to stand and salute the flag while the national stadium was playing for a medal ceremony nearby in the stadium. Here Kendricks risks his performance on the world’s biggest stage to stand for the anthem while Kaepernick’s kneel was just about the exact opposite. While Kaepernick did not stand for the flag he did “stand” for the constitution. “That’s something that this country stands for — freedom, liberty, justice for all. And it’s not happening for all right now” Kaepernick said. (Deleted text) While the author was speculating at the time when he said that Kaepernick could cost himself millions of dollars in future endorsements or effect his value as a player in the NFL, it is exactly what happened over the course of the season (Elikwu). 

Another relatable movement was Muhammad Ali’s famous protest against the military draft in 1967 because he did not want to be drafted into a war to fight other people of color (Abdul-Jabbar).  Peniel Joseph, an expert on civil rights movements, refers to Ali’s fight as “the gold standard of athletic protest” due to his extensive support from the public. When comparing the two circumstances there is a clear relation between these two cases and the punishment each athlete has faced. Ali and Kaepernick are both high profile athletes using, and risking, their positions in order to fight for a cause. Ali was banned from boxing for protesting the military draft and Kaepernick is unable to be hired because he is despised for “disrespecting” the flag and people who fight for this country (Joseph). 

Kaepernick’s fight is also like the 1968 Olympic medal ceremony, when African Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists during as a symbol of black power and to raise awareness about the “treatment of people of color in the United States”(Abduul-Jabbar). Smith and Carlos received numerus death threats and were publically ostracized due to this showing. The Olympic sprinters raising their fists is the event that is the most relatable to Kaepernick’s case due to their showing also being during the national anthem, on a large platform, and for the same cause. The cartoon in figure 1 shows the sprinters raising their fists on the podium but instead of the Australian silver medalist alongside them it is a seated Kaepernick.

 This cartoon aims to show the similarities between the protests of Smith, Carlos, and Kaepernick because they were all considered troubled, insulted for their actions and, exercised a similar form of protest (Boyce). Abdul-Jabbar goes as far as to say it should horrify Americans that nearly fifty years after Ali’s protest and Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ raised their fist that we still need to call for attention to racial inequality (Abdul-Jabbar). These examples show a clear relation to these other athletes and veterans who sacrificed personal gain on their pursuit to bettering their country. 

Colin Kaepernick has been quoted on multiple occasions referencing the founding principles of this country as his platform for protest. “I can absolutely hate the Government and love the country…Patriotism is making the country great from within” said Steve Enerson a local newsletter publisher and veteran when interviewed by Isabell Wilkerson. He also said, "It's standing up for the rights that your country was built on and doing it proudly (Wilkerson)." Isabell Wilkerson, the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and author of “After War, Patriotism Unfurls for Fourth of July” interviewed people from Lincoln, Nebraska about how they define and view patriotism. Most of the responses she received from the public followed along the same lines of the newsletter publisher about loving the country itself more so than the government that runs it (Wilkerson). In a book containing a debate about patriotic definitions, three different civil rights experts researched and manifested their own definitions of a patriotic acts and all agreed that a patriot need not be committed to one’s government but to its “defense, health, and prosperity” (Kleinig, et al. 5). This is exactly what Kaepernick is doing by kneeling to bring attention to the fact that the constitution and the primary values this country was founded on are not being upheld by the police or government when it comes to police brutality. 

Azadeh Aalai Ph.D. has an interesting perspective on patriotism because she approaches it from a psychological standpoint. She talks about patriotism being broken down into two categories, blind and constructive. Constructive patriotism is defined as a critical analysis of the country’s actions and possibly speaking out to enact positive change. She describes blind patriotism as people who are loyal to their country and will not let anyone or anything convince them otherwise. People who fall into this category tend to only see the surface of some issues like sending troops off to war. Blind patriots would only see the death of these soldiers as the result of war and ignore the underlying issues that they are going to fight for. In comparison, blind patriots in this scenario would apply to the people who do not see the purpose behind Kaepernick’s kneeling and only see the “disrespect” he’s showing towards the flag. Aalai encourages her readers to think critically in times that patriotism is questioned because everything is not always what it looks like (Aalai and Kleinig, et al.). Kaepernick is showing a form of constructive patriotism because he is exercising his right as an American to opt out of this ritualistic playing of the national anthem to bring attention to a bigger issue at hand. 

The final reason for Kaepernick’s efforts to be considered a patriotic act is his physical contributions to the cause. Kaepernick has backed his words by donating one million dollars of his salary from last year to various oppressed community’s organizations. He talked to these organizations and said that it is time to move past the reason why he is protesting and start making the changes he has been arguing to happen. In addition to donating money Kaepernick has been talking to other activists, created a website, and founded a cause called The Colin Kaepernick Foundation. The mission of this foundation is to “fight oppression of all kinds globally, through education and social activism (Kaepernick).” His foundation is a worldwide effort to educate the youth of oppressed races on life skills, the importance of education, and to let them meet African Americans who have overcome oppression themselves and are now successful. On his website, he has detailed list of each month since the beginning of the foundation that shows how much money was raised, exactly how much went to different organizations and what the money was used for. Over the course of the last ten months Kaepernick has donated one-hundred thousand dollars to four different organizations every month. For example, in the month of June 2017 one-hundred thousand dollars was raised and donated to four different organizations, each received twenty-five thousand dollars. The money donated to the DREAM organization will be used to provide kids in New York, NY with food, laptops, visits to college campuses, bus expenses, and sports equipment. The DREAM organization, formerly known as RBI Harlem, uses team sports to help kids in need recognize their potential and pursue their dreams. Kaepernick even started a camp that he fully funds with a campaign for youth to “raise awareness on higher education, self-empowerment, and instruction to properly interact with law enforcement in various scenarios (Kaepernick).” The camp focuses on ten points that all start with “You have the right to be… free, healthy, brilliant, safe, loved, courageous, alive, trusted, educated, and to know your rights.” The lay out of his website is in a fashion that makes it very clear to see exactly where his money is going and all he is doing to help people in need. This website provides all the proof needed to show that Kaepernick is proactively enacting change in various communities. Not only has he done this on his own but he also has been able to get other athletes involved in his fight proving that he has physically contributed to the cause in multiple ways (Kaepernick).

(Deleted text) The topic of patriotism is very personal so something that one person believes is a completely harmless and positive movement another view’s as destructive and another may think is pointless. (Deleted text). However, Despite the different values people hold they can not argue the facts. Kaepernick has fought for his countries primary values which resulted in the loss of his career and millions of dollars along the way. He has also physically contributed to the cause through community service, camps, inspirational speeches, and donations. Kaepernick has not only spread awareness about his cause by protesting but has also gained followers through his foundation. All of these actions point to the fact that Colin Kaepernick is not only performing a patriotic act, but one that is similar to civil rights movements in the past. It’s time Americans start considering the reasons behind these demonstrations and make some changes in the direction of liberty of and justice for ALL. 
