Camryn Stafford- Colin Kaepernick sits during national anthem

summary:
The spotlight has been cast upon Colin Kaepernick who refused to stand and sing the national anthem during last friday's NFL preseason game. Kaepernick's refusal to stand and sing is his way of protesting against the National Anthem, the flag, and the country itself. Kaepernick states that he would not stand "to show pride in a flag for a country that presses black people and people of color." Looking back at the extended version of the tune, the song refers to slavery and some even say that it suggests that the author, Francis Scott Key, was pleased by the deaths of the free slaves who allied with britain to fight the United States.

analysis:
The Black Lives Matter movement is very important in our country today and it has caused major controversy amongst many. People are starting to use their platform to speak out against thinks that may seem unjust or discriminatory in the hopes of transferring the message to others. If Colin Kaepernick would've remained seated maybe two years ago, it wouldn't have been as big an issue but now that people everywhere are speaking out in different ways it has become newsworthy. Though with much criticism, Kaepernick isn't the first athlete to find issue with the anthem, Jackie Robinson used his fame to advance civil rights causes, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two american olympic runners, during the 1968 Mexico City olympics medal ceremony, raised their fists in a black pride salute during the national anthem. Kaepernick wasn't trying to "show off" or "reenact" those before him, he was simply contributing to the movement. However, sports fans and twitter followers have reacted very harshly towards Colin, slandering him with criticism and opposing opinions of what he should've done. The article published on CNN I believe was written to give these same Sports Fans and followers a reason for why he sat down and to describe why it is important for him to do so. Articles like these cannot show bias so it is hard to tell what they are trying to prove by writing this article but to me it seems like AJ Willingham, the author of the article, is trying to put logic behind Colin Kaepernick's reasoning. Articles like these are relevant because many people don't understand why Black Lives matter "suddenly matters" or why people do things that contribute to this movement. Willingham writing this article is another example of someone using their platform to educate the people and to spread the movement. Racism was a very important mindset that occurred throughout US History and it has shaped us into the world we are living in today. I would like to say that racism has been demolished but unfortunately there are many examples of it's lingering. If it were to have completely disappeared from our world today, there would not be such a strong desire to change our communities. Even though Racism doesn't exist in the form of slavery anymore, it occurs in many other ways, such as the mistreatment, shooting, or jailing of Black People. This treatment is unfair and in a way Black people are not considered as free as the white race is. This is why Colin Kaepernick and many other atheletes do not agree with the national anthem and it's message. The Black Lives Matter movement in itself is an example that Black people are fed up with the treatment of our people and we demand change. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/29/sport/colin-kaepernick-flag-protest-has-history-trnd/index.html