If you are any type of sports fan, the kneeling protest by former San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, is one that\u00a0didn’t\u00a0go unnoticed. This\u00a0began\u00a0in 2016, when the former quarterback chose to kneel during the national anthem at games.\u00a0Kaepernick\u2019s goal in doing this was to protest police brutality and racial injustice, specifically towards Black Americans.\u00a0This simple gesture created a wave of responses in all aspects of the game,\u00a0from fans and viewers\u00a0to public figures and media outlets and everything in between.\u00a0This\u00a0also\u00a0quickly spread\u00a0across not just the NFL, but other sports including the NBA and high schools, where some athletes chose to join in solidarity against this issue.\u00a0Wherever you were, a major national debate was sparked by this action. Some were in favor of what he was standing for and understood what he was trying to say. Others were upset that this was a sign of disrespect towards our country. In 2017, Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers and was not signed by another team. This caused some to believe he was \u201cblackballed\u201d for his kneeling protest. But\u00a0despite losing his NFL career, what he did do was help create a wildfire of conversations related to racism and athlete activism in sports.\u00a0So,\u00a0was this worth it?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Media\u00a0communicated about\u00a0these events in\u00a0different ways, depending on where you were watching or reading your information. Traditional news outlets more so portrayed Kaepernick\u2019s acts as disrespectful to the military and America\u2019s flag.\u00a0They\u00a0seemed\u00a0to overlook why he was kneeling in the first place and what his protest was actually\u00a0about.\u00a0The differences in media and what was happening created major debates in response. Online social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram,\u00a0allowed Kaepernick and other athletes to speak up directly, giving them the opportunity to speak the facts straight from the source, unlike news outlets secondhand. This gave clarification that the protest was against racial injustice and fighting against police brutality, not\u00a0anything to do with the flag,\u00a0military\u00a0or America. Of course, like anything you post online, Kaepernick and other athletes received a lot of supporters, as well as a lot of hate and critique. During this major time in the digital age,\u00a0where everything is put online, these events quickly became one of the most widely discussed sports activism moments of our time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During interviews, Colin Kaepernick was able to help shape the narrative of his\u00a0own\u00a0story,\u00a0explaining the reasons behind why he did what he did, as well as his continued efforts off the field, following the end of his NFL career. Despite these interviews,\u00a0media\u00a0still often\u00a0diluted or deflected attention away from his efforts and what he was really fighting against. Regardless of what you do, the stance you take or in this case, the major protest that sparked the nation, there will always be supporters and critics.\u00a0Ultimately, you\u00a0could say Kaepernick lost everything\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0worked for by kneeling. No longer playing in the National Football League, but to others and himself, what he stood for (or\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0stand for in this case), meant so much more than his\u00a0football\u00a0career.\u00a0Standing up for what you believe in\u00a0and doing something that people are going to\u00a0notice,\u00a0takes more courage than anything else. And the potential risks can be devastating in the end. Only you know what is worth it\u00a0to you\u00a0and people who stay quiet,\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0speak up and remain bystanders, never create change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colin Kaepernick is just one example in the sports world among many, who chose what he thought was right over everything else. He never wavered in his\u00a0stance\u00a0and he gave all or nothing. This protest shows all of us, no matter what side you lean towards in this example, the power as well as complications in the relationship between sports,\u00a0media\u00a0and activism.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0never just black and white.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you are any type of sports fan, the kneeling protest by former San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, is one that\u00a0didn’t\u00a0go unnoticed. This\u00a0began\u00a0in 2016, when the former quarterback chose to kneel during the national anthem at games.\u00a0Kaepernick\u2019s goal in doing this was to protest police brutality and racial injustice, specifically towards Black Americans.\u00a0This simple gesture … Continue reading The Power of a Knee<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32088,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32088"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}