{"id":16803,"date":"2016-08-28T14:09:48","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T14:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=16803"},"modified":"2016-08-28T16:16:53","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T16:16:53","slug":"pro-qb-sits-during-national-anthem-a-big-deal-yes-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=16803","title":{"rendered":"Pro QB sits during National Anthem; a big deal? Yes, but …"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I’ve been stewing for a couple of days over the news of Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the playing of the National Anthem prior to the start of a pro football exhibition game.<\/p>\n

Kapernick has been reviled, vilified and called everything but a traitor for refusing to stand.<\/p>\n

I am not going to go that far.<\/p>\n

I wish the San Francisco 49ers quarterback had stood and paid proper respect to the flag and to the nation where he has earned a handsome living playing a kids’ game. He said he sat because he couldn’t support a nation that oppresses “people of color.”<\/p>\n

He could have written an essay for newspapers, he could have tweeted his displeasure with American policy toward “people of color,” he could posted something on Facebook.<\/p>\n

But no-o-o-o<\/em>. He wanted to make a spectacle of himself in a\u00a0stadium in front of tens of thousands of spectators.<\/p>\n

Kaepernick obviously wasn’t talking about himself, as he’s hardly been oppressed, except perhaps by his coaches<\/em> who cannot decide whether he should be the starting quarterback.<\/p>\n

Critics have noted that in many other countries around the world, Kaepernick would have been arrested and jailed for failing to stand while the band played a national anthem.<\/p>\n

Let’s understand this: Kaepernick is an American citizen. He refused to stand in this country, which has no law requiring<\/em> Americans to get off their duffs — if they are able — while we play the “Star-Spangled Banner.”<\/p>\n

So, he made a political statement. He’s not the first one to do so. He won’t be the last.<\/p>\n

Sure, he’ll likely pay a price down the line. My hunch is that sports apparel shops won’t be selling many\u00a049ers jerseys with Kaepernick’s name and No. 7 from this day forward.<\/p>\n

The fact remains, though, that our nation’s belief in free speech and political expression gives all of us — even well-known pro athletes — the right to make fools of themselves.<\/p>\n\n

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I’ve been stewing for a couple of days over the news of Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit during the playing of the National Anthem prior to the start of a pro football exhibition game. Kapernick has been reviled, vilified and called everything but a traitor for refusing to stand. I am not going to go … Continue reading Pro QB sits during National Anthem; a big deal? Yes, but …<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[6543,1813,3190],"class_list":["post-16803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news","tag-colin-kaepernick","tag-free-speech","tag-national-anthem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16807,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16803\/revisions\/16807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}