The First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives Americans the right to freedom of speech.  However, this freedom is something that is often taken for granted and can divide our country.  For example, many Americans recognize freedom of speech, but do not agree with utilizing this right by kneeling during the national anthem before a National Football League game.  Other Americans believe that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. The 45th President of the United States recently gave his stance on the controversial issue, saying that players should be fired for standing up for their beliefs and kneeling during the anthem.  The President stated, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired.’” (Graham).  This inflammatory statement from a man with as much power as President Trump leaves an impact on the nation that can raise the level of the dispute.  Many people have spoken their minds on the topic, but the divisive nature of the subject has brought more and more backlash from people on both sides of the argument.  As a result, many people are questioning how to resolve the dispute when the decisions involve freedom of speech, patriotism, and NFL players.  In my opinion, the American people should be more understanding of the NFL players' perspectives and their protected right of free speech. 

President Trump's comments have raised the visibility of this issue, which has led many people around the league to respond. Jackie Wattles from CNN Money released a report stating that NFL owners are not happy with President Trump and how he handled this situation. Owners and executives of teams such as the Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants, the Green Bay Packers, the Atlanta Falcons and more have all weighed in on this topic, believing that Trump’s comments were “offensive and divisive” (Wattles).  Statements like these from the NFL owners were shocking to NFL fans across the nation because these wealthy moguls tend to be right-wing conservatives.  Another prominent figure in the NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, responded to President Trump’s harsh words by supporting the players and their right to protest peacefully.  “The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture” (Breech).  Coming from a man of such authority in the NFL, President Trump immediately responded to Commissioner Goodell's comments by complaining, “All Goodell had to do was say there’s rules and you can’t do it,” (Moore).  As a private organization, the NFL could have required the players to stand during the national anthem when the protests started last year with the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. 

With this being such a large topic in the media, it has separated people both sides, often along political lines.  Many right-wing conservatives are arguing against this peaceful protest because they believe that the NFL players are disrespecting the American flag and the military that has served their country.  According to Will Brinson of CBS Sports, a local restaurant in South Carolina will not be airing NFL games and will instead boycott the NFL until a change is made.  The owner told a local news station that  “when they take the knee, it's total disrespect to our flag, to our country, and in my opinion it's too far” (Brinson).  Many people believe that the players are disrespecting the military by sitting or kneeling during the national anthem because the American flag on the field is the same flag brought into battle to protect the rights of all Americans and the same flag that brings home veterans who have given their lives for this country.  However, I argue that those against the protests of the NFL players have made it more than the issue of whether it is disrespecting the American flag.  Before the Monday Night Football game on September 25, 2017, members of the Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones kneeled before the national anthem began. After their moment, they stood up before the anthem began. However, cries of boos were heard throughout the stadium as soon as the team went to the widely known message of one knee. The protestors tried to find a way to appease both sides of the issue by kneeling before the anthem began; yet it was still met with criticism.  This leads me to believe that some people are not responding to the actual issue of social injustice, as heart wrenching as it is to say that. 

 While people against these protests tend to believe that the players should not disrespect the American flag and appreciate what America has done for them.  However, the flag is a symbol of an Americans rights and the American military fights to preserve these rights.  Also, everyone has had their own American journey and looks at the country in a different way.  The people protesting are not taking a stand against the military and the flag.  They are protesting against the social injustice across America involving hate crimes and discrimination.  Social injustice has been a topic for hundreds of years and the fact that there are still protests shows that we still have a ways to go.  Americans have seen slaves emancipated and civil rights passed, but the progress has not been as strong as it should due to the movements over the past few centuries. 

The protests over the course of 2016 to 2017 might seem like something new, however, protesting against the government and social injustice is something that’s been around for the past few hundred years. It began with the late 1800’s when the slaves were freed and continued onward. The next big instance of protesting social injustice that not many people know about is in the 1930’s and 1940’s. This instance was in Nazi Germany in which people would stand or not salute during Adolf Hitler’s regime. A man by the name of August Landmesser was in the crowd at a 1936 rally and in a photograph from the rally, Landmesser is seen as the only man in the crowd without his arm out in salute of Adolf Hitler. In fact, he has his arms crossed in the picture (Macias). This is an occurrence of protest more recently in which the media doesn’t talk about when talking about the NFL protesting during the national anthem. People protested a symbol that they believed had ties with a negative connotation, which takes a large amount of courage. This was just an instance where people felt as though the government was doing something wrong and in response they stood up to it.

A more recent and similar example of protesting in sports was in the 1968 Olympics. In the 1968 Olympics, many American Olympic athletes showed their beliefs and support for the Black Power Movement throughout the games. The first instance occurred when a few runners held up their fist in a Black Power salute. “American runners, Lee Evans, Larry James, and Ronnie Freeman hold their hands up in a Black Power salute after the medal ceremony,” (Gates Jr.). The three men were all wearing dark berets, which are looked at as a symbol of the Black Panthers movement and a symbol of Black Power. This was the first incident involving protest in the Olympics, but isn’t talked about often when regarding the 1968 games.

The next known protest of the Olympics came after a sociology professor came out with an idea that African Americans boycotting might be a good way to get their point across, (Gates Jr.). Although this was a good idea and seemed like a good way to respond to the lack of civil rights, only one person protested the Olympics. This man is NBA Hall of Famer and six-time NBA Champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In an interview, he explained why he decided to sit out of the 1968 Olympics. He said there were multiple reasons for his boycott that year, one of which regarding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and how he didn’t feel very patriotic after the event that had transpired. He said in an interview with NBC Sports:

 “Another reason I chose not to participate was my intense dislike for the International Olympic Committee’s president, Avery Brundage, who, during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, benched two Jewish runners so as not to embarrass Adolph Hitler by having Jews win a gold medal. Not only was this against the Olympic rules, but information has since been revealed that Brundage’s construction company was bidding for German contracts, which is why he was so eager to please Hitler. I couldn’t bring myself to work under the supervision of someone like that.” (NBC Sports). 

This was a more recent interview from 2017, which was extremely new information even though the boycott happened nearly fifty years prior. This was the only known part of boycott in the years Olympics, but the world was shocked with what came next, which often overshadows the first two protests. 

After the boycott, which never truly materialized, two African-American runners from the 200-meter track event stunned the world. The Black Power movement truly became apparent on October 16, 1968 after the event ended when “Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black-gloved fists during the medal ceremony of the 200-meter track event to the tune of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’” This was something the world had never seen, especially in a worldwide broadcasted event. “The spectacle created by the two solidified a politicized notion of  ‘black athlete’ in spite of the continuous fragmentation and reinvention the label had undergone,” (Bass 185). This is almost exactly the NFL’s movement in 2016 and 2017. In fact, I argue that Kaepernick’s first protest was highly influenced by the protest that Smith and Carlos portrayed in 1968. This protest didn’t go unnoticed due to the millions of people who saw the Olympics on television or listened on the radio, which makes me believe Kaepernick knew what he was trying to do with his protests. 

Nearly fifty years later, the American people are seeing another uproar of protests over the same form of discrimination; yet the American people are still acting like it isn’t about race, but about “their flag.” The NFL protests shouldn’t be something the people of the country should be pushing against, but rather should be pushing for in a country that promotes equality. Throughout history, there has been discrimination that people still haven’t overcome whether it be over race or religion, but in the United States, the discrimination shouldn’t be where it is today based on the ideas and beliefs the country was built on. 

As NFL ratings are falling, I still stand with my belief that these protesters are simply exercising their first amendment right and trying to shine a light on social injustice in our country.  With this being such a controversial subject in the media and the protesting dating back to the 1968 Olympics and prior, I believe the American people should be okay with the protesting and want people to see equality in the United States and beyond. I believe that people around the country would want their children to grow up in a world of change, living in the land of the free and the home of the brave. 
