National Anthem Research Paper

‘I can’t breathe.’ Eric Garner utters pleas for desistance eleven times before succumbing to strangulation. White police officers sustained him in a violent chokehold for fifteen seconds on the sidewalk of a New York City street, ultimately inhumanely butchering the life of the forty-three-year-old. Garner was an unarmed African American and was only confronted by police for a misdemeanor of peddling untaxed, loose cigarettes. The African American community has been suffocated from their inalienable rights as a result of the unjust racial profiling by white police officers. The abrupt increase in unarmed African American police brutality is cause for concern. Race is an uncomfortable topic. However, despite gradual, punctuated improvements

Until he explained his intentions, he was initially pervaded with backlash from the American public, with statements primarily claiming that he lacked respect for the military. With myself included, Colin Kaepernick was labeled as an ignorant, sheltered un-American football player who disrespects veterans, those lost in war, and the servicemen and women who continue to defend our freedoms overseas. The National Anthem is the only time we truly demonstrate our patronage to the rights and freedoms provided by the nation’s military and law enforcement. However, I then recognized that being American is about anticipating change and the betterment of society, learning not to be satisfied and always searching for

Furthermore, despite the initial protest occurring over a year ago, Kaepernick’s message is still at the top of the headlines. No other method of protesting, like a rally or a speech at a press conference, would have been as successful as kneeling during the national anthem. Football is a classic American sport. Every Sunday, millions across the country watch the entirety of football games, including the introduction that incorporates the national anthem. Every broadcast includes a camera angle, and often a remark by one of the commentators, of the players kneeling, linking arms, or raising fists in solidarity. However, Colin Kaepernick is no longer employed in the National Football League, primarily because of the magnitude and effects of his protest. He ultimately surrendered his career and livelihood but left behind, despite the protest occurring over twelve months ago, a lasting imprint on the culture of football and views of race in