Recently, many athletes have taken a knee during the National Anthem, following the footsteps of the athlete that brought it into mainstream news, Colin Kaepernick. In the last NFL season, Kaepernick decided to take a knee during the performance of the National Anthem because 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.” Many other athletes responded to this by kneeling during the National Anthem. Famous athletes including Brandon Marshall, Marcus Peters, the entire Cowboys football team, Mike Wallace, Terrell Suggs, Mike Evans, Desean Jackson, Brandin Cooks, and many other athletes that chose to take a kneel during the anthem.  In fact, the entire Pittsburgh Steelers football team were told to stay in the locker room, but they did have the choice to and that made Alejandro Villanueva come out of the locker room by himself to stand for the National Anthem. Villanueva had probably stood for the National Anthem to represent his country and he used to work for the Armed Forces. Aside that, many NFL owners and general managers neglect to sign Colin Kaepernick (who is currently a free agent) because of what he stands for. Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, had planned a team meeting and during the meeting he had stated that if any players had sat down during the National Anthem, they were to be benched or to not play at all. President Donald Trump said that players should be suspended for kneeling during the National Anthem or even fired from their respective teams. Some players chose not to kneel for the National Anthem but lock arms together in a form of unity. New England Patriots Quarterback, Tom Brady, locked arms with teammates for the National Anthem. The majority of the players in the National Football League decided to lock arms in unity to be together instead of kneeling. On October 17th, Roger Goodell announced a meeting with NFL Owners and players to discuss about National Anthem protests. I don’t believe that any rules will be changed as a result of this meeting but something new must come out of it.  Players and owners attending this meeting in Manhattan are as follows: Josh Norman, Eric Reid, Malcolm Jenkins, Russell Okung, owners including Robert Kraft, Arthur Blank, Jed York, Shad Khan, and plenty more players and owners. The meeting will take place at a hotel in Manhattan, New York at 10 a.m. on October 17th, 2017. Jalen Ragsdale wrote a similar article about Colin Kaepernick taking a kneel during the National Anthem; the link is below.

Is Colin Kaepernick being Blackballed?