Former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the national anthem on August 14th, 2016 during an off season game. He used his big platform to conduct a protest that was by no means violent, but to express his First Amendment rights as a U.S. citizen. Kaepernick´s peaceful protest did not deface the flag, instead his silence was screaming against the issues of police brutality in America.
The country as a whole responded to this protest in a negative manner, some went as far as to send death threats towards Kaepernick.
With the help of Nike’s billion dollar industry, Kaepernick was able to voice his message in a more positive way. The main focus with the new commercial “Dream Crazy” was to spread the message: “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if they’re enough,” Kapernick said.
I’ve been a varsity football player for the past two years and have already committed my future to the United States Marine Corps. Right off the bat, most individuals who hear the word “Marine” might expect me to stand in contrast to Kaepernick’s view.
However my perspective is simple. I’ve never been in his shoes. I will never go through the discrimination that he’s faced his entire life. We are all entitled to our own opinion, but before jumping to conclusions we need to take a step back and hear the other side.
In 1791, the First Amendment was established to set in stone that citizens of the United States are entitled to free speech. On that sideline that day, Kaepernick was expressing his 1st amendment rights to protest against an important topic in our modern day America. Yet he was punished for expressing that First Amendment right.
Kaepernick in no form showed any acts of violence while kneeling. He acted in a silent, nonviolent protest.
We go day to day being divided, more and more, over the actions of an individual protesting against something that is truly wrong in our society. And we will continue to be divided if we do not hear the other person’s point of view.
What a great piece. Nice perspective and totally agree it is an issue dividing the country.
Police Brutality is a problem, but it’s not as big an issue as you would think. Many liberals and conservatives would have you believe that a large percentage of the police force is racist and that simply is not true. According to 2013 study done by pew research center and Governing Blog, upwards of 57.1% of the police force in america is either hispanic, asian, or black, with only 35.4% of the police force white. The last “Police Brutality shooting” to make the news was, according to CNN, a unarmed and innocent black male who was brutally shot to death by a racist cop. However I did some research and the man who was shot had three felonies, all cop shootings, and was armed to the teeth with a knife and pistol. He was only shot after a cop disarmed his gun and the man attempted to stab him. Still a bit brutal you say? Well think again. The cop that shot the man WAS BLACK. Therefore, correct me if I’m wrong, he probably is not racist.
Don’t get me wrong there have been many occasions on which horrible unjust deeds have occurred, however, I think it’s time we actually did our research and discovered that police brutality might not be as much of an issue as we thought.
REVISED REBUTTAL WITH MLA CITATION:
Police brutality is not as big of an issue as many think. Many politicians and news agencies would have you believe that a large percentage of our police force is racist, but that simply is not true. In fact according to a 2013 survey done by the Pew Research Center, a very liberal organization, and the Governing Blog states that over 62.7% of our American police force is Hispanic, Asian, or Black. Only 35.4% is white. Even assuming every white police officer is racist, they are still a minority within the force. In reality only around 1% of white police officers are racist.
Police brutality exists, but the cases you see on the news are outliers, not common events. The latest case of police brutality had CNN claiming that a “Innocent, unarmed, African American male was shot to death by police as he attempted to peacefully surrender.” I decided to do some research. In reality that man had three felonies, all for shooting police officers, and was armed to the teeth carrying a S&W Model 10 Glock 22, (that was stolen from an officer) as well as a couple knives. When the police approached him he pulled out his gun and an officer disarmed him. The felon wasn’t shot untill after he attempted to stab the officer with one of his knives. If you still think the cop that shot the man was racist, maybe you should take into account that the officer that shot the felon WAS BLACK. I would think that should rule him out as a racist. This is not the only such event of false brutality, and there is no way of knowing exactly how many false cases there could be.
I am not saying that police brutality does not exist, but it is a very uncommon occurrence, and I believe that maybe we should do our research and realise that police brutality may not be the major issue we think it is. – Common Sense
“Police Department Race and Ethnicity Demographic Data.” Governing Magazine: State and Local Government News for America’s Leaders, Governing, http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/police-department-officer-demographics-minority-representation.html
“Why Do Police Agencies Prefer Glock Pistols?” Dury’s Gun Shop, http://www.durysguns.com/news/why-do-police-agencies-prefer-glock-pistols.