Should Athletes Protest Current Events

This country was made for freedom, everyone should be able to state their own opinion without being judged or punished. Some people think that athletes shouldn’t use their fame to protest current events. Athletes should protest current event, it will get the word out on things that we can fix.
When professional athletes protest protest any events, people will know the problems that are going on but they might get consequences from it. For example, Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San-Francisco 49ers got highly disliked by the public for not standing for the National Anthem. “In the midst of a divisive election year, an important discussion about race, class and violence in this country was almost abandoned by the news media.” (Tim wendel). Last year the news was all about the presidential election and they didn’t have enough time to talk about events with race, class, and violence.

“Of course, many sports stars in the 1960’s were punished for taking a public stand.”... “It took the country years to acknowledge the courage they took.” (trouble for taking a stand, Tim Wendel). Some other athletes that have gotten mistreated or took a stand are Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Lebron James, and Brandon Marshall.
Furthermore, Tommie Smith and John Carlos got their olympic medals taken from them for holding up black gloved fists during the National Anthem. “In 1968, African American runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos led the black power salutes, a political demonstration at the summer olympics in Mexico city, mexico. (Standing on an athlete's stage, Tim Wendel). Smith and Carlos held up their fists with black gloves and wore beads, human rights badges, unzipped tracksuit, and scarves to