Colin Kaepernick’s Protest: A Big Moment in Sports Activism 

On August 26th, 2016, Colin Kaepernick, who at the time was the quarterback for the San Fransisco 49ers, decided to take a seat during the National Anthem for a preseason football game. After the game, Colin was asked why he decided to take a seat during the anthem, and he said that he was protesting police brutality and the systemic racism in the United States. Not too long after this protest, Colin met with Nate Boyer (a veteran and a former NFL player) and they both came to the agreement that it would be more respectful to take a knee during the national anthem, instead of sitting, while still being able to get his point across. 

It did not take long for the media to start talking about this protest from Colin Kaepernick. Colin’s protest led to conversations and debates about race, patriotism and the roles of athletes in activism. There were also several athletes around the NFL who stood and agreed with Colins protests and they also took a knee. 

When the media started to talk about Colin and the protests that were now going around the league, the media started to twist the narrative. As the protests continued, the media and more people began to give their thoughts. News stations like Fox News did not agree with the way he was kneeling as a way of protest. They were saying that it was disrespectful to the military and the Nation to kneel during the national anthem. And news and media outlets on the other side of the political swing, saw it as courageous and a great way to stand up to this corrupt country. Social media quickly became a place for arguments, debates and movement with hashtags like #takeaknee. People who supported Kaepernick would use their social media platform to share stats on police brutality and to share personal stories. But others saw Colin as unpatriotic and did not want him in the NFL any longer. 

Kaepernick continuously told the media that his protests were not intended to disrespect the US or the military, his intentions were to bring accountability for police brutality and to bring a voice to the black community. 

As hard as Colin tried, the media’s narrative continued and framed him as not being patriotic and eventually he would no longer be on an NFL due to multiple reasons not just because of the protests. As time passed and the rise of BLM happened, the NFL did state that they should have taken Colin’s message more seriously.