America: a country built on the backs of minorities and slavery. The land of the free that to some, may not be so free. With terrorism, poverty and other casualties within America, NFL players kneeling for the National Anthem should be the least of your worries.

It started with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest police brutality. That is essentially why to this day, players are still doing it. Police brutality has skyrocketed in the past four years. Minorities are looking like the main targets of these racist and not so coincidental shootings. Kaepernick has even lost his job for practicing his freedom of speech. His motives turned around by people, the majority of whom, will probably never face oppression in their lives.

To clear things up, NFL players are not kneeling to protest the flag, they are not kneeling to protest the National Anthem. They are kneeling on the behalf of racist shootings within the police force that often go overlooked because the victim was not; rich or white. It seems many people do not understand that concept.

To be fair, if NFL players were kneeling in protest of the National Anthem, one could not blame them. The National Anthem was written by a racist slave owner. The National Anthem is full of hidden bigotry, just like America itself.

Many say that politics and sports should not mix, and I agree to an extent. Here is the thing, players are in fact human and have opinions; they should be able to exercise them freely. Isn’t that the whole meaning behind freedom of speech?

Vice President, Mike Pence left a Colts’ football game after seeing some players kneeling. Many people believe it to be a political stunt. For example, the picture he tweeted of him and his wife was dated back to 2013 at another game. President Trump even tweeted “I asked Vice President Pence to leave the stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and Second Lady Karen.” Trump and Pence demanding that Americans not protest is the least American thing.

NFL players have all the rights in the world to kneel and protest, it would be less controversial if people did not equate the “flag” to “troops.” Before you go on to criticize a person or group of people for not being patriotic, please think about how this country treats them and views them. Let the people speak, let the people protest and let the people change society for the better.