America witnesses NFL #TakeAKnee against racial inequality and police brutality

“Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired. He’s fired!” said the wisest of all- our very own Donald Trump as to what should have been the response of NFL owners and Commissioner’s to their players who chose to “disrespect” the national anthem. Well to be fair he is the same guy who saw the survivors of hurricane Harvey and commented on the size of the crowd saying “What a crowd!” so no expectations there.

However the reason behind millions of Americans watching their favorite NFL players kneeling down during the National Anthem was them showing their support for the cause of racial inequality and police brutality. The peaceful protest led by these players soon became a twitter hashtag for people other than them to support the cause. Although within hours twitter was flooded with #TakeAKnee and #TakeTheKnee as a response to Colin’s protest but also to Trump for calling him and the other players “son of a bitch” and it took over the original message and the debates also started to happen around respect instead of justice.

The players, coaches and owners of the teams stood in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick who began taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016 session and was joined by a few other athletes. Apart from these players, film producer Will Packer also showed his support by making a film broadcasting the same message. The video shows a lone figure kneeling down in various locations with audio recordings of some fatal highly publicized fatal altercations between police officers and unarmed black persons playing in the background.

“I’ve been very clear from the beginning that I’m against systematic oppression,” Colin said in an interview with CNN “Police violence is just one of the symptoms of that oppression. For me, that is something that needs to be addressed, but it’s not the whole issue.” Sadly when Kaepernick and other players took a stand in November 2016, they were excoriated and their jerseys used as doormats and bonfire fodder.

Kaepernick has been vocal since about why he chose to kneel during the national anthem about how he doesn’t want to show pride in a flag of the country that oppresses black people and people of color. Recently, Seattle Seahawks player Michael Bennett said that he was held by police officers at gunpoint during a trip to Las Vegas. If a personality who is known by all gets arrested when he’s off the field, think about the other black men and women who are a subject to the systemic racism the rest of the POC community is up against.