Kneeling for the National Anthem

One of the first kneelings for the national anthem was in August of 2016 by Colin Kaepernick. He kneeled because he wanted to protest racial injustice and police brutality. This caused many other athletes to kneel as well during the national anthem. There have been many athletes who have participated in kneeling for the national anthem and even got President Trump's attention. The Pittsburgh Steelers even stayed in the locker room during the anthem as a protest. 

 

I think that even if you have these strong feelings about police brutality and racial injustice you should still stand for the national anthem. I 100% understand the reasoning but I think it is incredibly disrespectful to all the men and women who have fought for our country to let us live in the world we live in. Our country definitely is not perfect, but I don't think that is an excuse to kneel for the national anthem. 

 

Francis Scott Key wrote the national anthem in 1814 during the War of 1812. Thousands of soldiers died in that war and I think that it is very disrespectful to all those men and women who died and to their families. The flag stands for our freedom and kneeling towards it is like saying you are not grateful for the freedom that we have as a country. I also think that if you're trying to get your point across, kneeling for the national anthem is not a very effective or efficient way to do that. 

 

What do you think? 

Do you think kneeling for the national anthem is the right thing to do and why?

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Replies

  • Good topic choice and well done overall Kendall! I do think you could have expaned a bit more especially on how this all went down with Colin and how people and tyhe NFL reacted.  Great job commenting!

  • I think that kneeling for the national anthem is VERY disrespectful. Considering the reasoning on why you kneel, for the sake of police brutality and racial injustice, I personally don’t see what that has to do with all of the soldiers who fought for that flag to be standing today? I understand that police brutality and racial injustice are in fact, real problems in this country, and that really does need to change, but there are other more respectful ways that we can protest against these problems to try and fix them. Kneeling for the flag is definitely NOT one of them. It is disrespectful to many people who fight for this country everyday. There is a place and a time to express your own opinion and beliefs and there are also ways that you can be respectful while expressing your opinions as well.

  • I don't think that kneeling for the national anthem is very disrespectful because it represents tradition, history, and beliefs of a nation and its people. Never once does it bring up  police brutality and racial injustice so I feel it is kind of worthless to kneel. If you don’t agree with certain things then I feel you should find something else to get your opinion across. I don't think kneeling is the right thing to do. I feel it is disrespectful.

  • I agree with you that its not respectful to kneel during the anthem for our countries mistakes. Police brutality and racial injustice are both really bad things but, there are certain areas that even a president can't control. Police brutality is one of the things they can't control.

  • In my opinion I think it is very very disrespectful to any soldier to kneel for the national anthem. It represents the ones who have died for our freedom and made sure we were safe. I don't think it should be titled as illigal, I think that a hefty fine for it would be punishment enough.

  • I believe that it is very disrespectful to kneel for the national anthem. It's disrespectful to the flag and to our ancestors. As kids, we are raised to stand for the flag, hand over heard, and remove our hats. It is just very sad that grown adults are now showing kids different. 

  • I think that kneeling for the national anthem is disrespectful. It is especially disrespectful to all the veterans who have fought for our freedom. Vetrans risk their lives to protect our freedoms and kneeling during the national anthem doesn't show that we are grateful. I think we should stand because not everyone gets as many freedoms as we do.

  • I think that when you kneel for the national anthem, you may think you are protesting racism and police brutality, but in reality you are just being disrespectful. When you are standing with your hand over your heart for the pledge, you are showing you are pround of your country and you respect and are grateful for the people who died to make us free. Yes, whoever is protesting those items might be too mad to care, but seriously? Staying in the locker room for it is just crossing the line, because that really proves that you are ungratful for the lives of those given to set us free.

    • Yes, I agree, it is showing that they are ungrateful to our country. 

  • I think kneeling for the National Anthem is wrong because it wasn't meant for the people they are mad at. It's for the poeple who fought and died so we can be free. Random people literally risked their lives for us. You can get someones attention in a different way.  

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