Are peoples’ opinions that you disagree with not allowed? This question has been heavily put to the test as football players have been swarmed with abhorrence. This anger has been brought to them through the protest that they have acted with, not standing or kneeling during the national anthem, in the past few years. Football players should be protected by the first amendment of the constitution, which is for free speech and protest. Football players should not be punished for their opinion and issue in which they protest in the United States because it brings awareness to society issues, use social status, and even though people disagree that the protest should not happen during the National Anthem. However, it the best time to show the fans what issues they are protesting. This act of protest is nothing new to America, but it has only just become an outrage due, to the involvement of the president and many other average citizens that claim it to be an unfit way to protest. The first instance of this act dates all the way back to World War II, when the Supreme Court voted down a demand that the flag should be saluted during the Pledge of Allegiance (Sachs 1). Then time goes by until 1996 when basketball star Abdul-Rauf was suspended for the length of one game, due to him refusing to stand for the national anthem for a religious purpose. According to ProCon.org, the issue was brought to life by Colin Kaepernick in 2016. He was the first football player to ever