Steven Sternberg Mrs. Burns English 1 CP 1 March, 2018 The Flag Protest “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color” (Kaepernick, Colin). The flag protest has been a protest existing for a long time but, recently sparked lots of controversy. Although kneeling during the national anthem may seem disrespectful are often seen as a disrespect to the flag and troops, a inefficient way to promote a cause, and anger many people in shows division in the country, it can show that the ideals of freedom is justified, it generates conversation and awareness about topic, and is a legal form of peaceful protest.
The flag represents freedom and justice and those who are being oppressed feel as though these certain rights are being taken away and that is why it is okay for someone to kneel during the National Anthem. While many people believe that kneeling during the National Anthem is wrong and is disrespectful to the country’s ideals, what many Americans do not realize is that if they look past their beliefs and try
Individuals feel that no problems exist about racial equality or social injustices. Some argue that protesting the national anthem is like protesting the country and our veterans. Kneeling is not about disrespecting the military or the veterans. It is about trying to get the country, people in government, to open their eyes to all of the turmoil going on around the world. People are distraught, upset and sick of the violence, police brutality, social and racial injustices going on.
It is clear to see that flag burning causes tension, good tension as MLK would call it, that causes attention to be drawn to a topic and forces people to acknowledge the problem. Destroying the American flag is a powerful method of protest that says “This flag is useless because America is not what it is supposed to stand
The law states that is freedom of speech to burn our American Flag, but how is stomping and burning the symbol of this nation where our freedom of speech should be. Most do it out of anger toward our country, but why do they have to take such drastic measures to show their anger. Wattad stated” grant the flag special respect.” ( 1, 2008) It's not saying take away freedom of speech just grant something that represents what our soldiers are fighting for special respect.
This action caused an upset among students. Some students are in conflict on how to feel with the demonstration. People should not be disrespecting the flag for any
Kneeling during the national anthem is a form of peacefully protesting instead of choosing to stay silent and not have a voice. Former NFL player Colin Kaepernick who is currently a free agent brought the attention to “kneeling during the national anthem” when he decided to take a knee during a preseason game. Him kneeling brought an uproar of people who believed he was being “disrespectful” and “unpatriotic”, others believed he was being “brave” and a “hero”. Kaepernick had a reason for doing so, he was standing up for social justice and police brutality again African Americans. Significance of The Flag
”People should stand for the national anthem for everything because its disrespectful to our veterans, people in the army, and police force; also it’s Americas thing to stand during the National Anthem to show that they are proud. Why do football players kneel during the National Anthem is the question all of America is trying to answer. The football players say they are
The National Anthem goes on every single time before a game begins. Each time it is being sung everyone usually stands up to show respect for America. While, news said that a few athletic players that have been sitting down, while the National Anthem goes on. This keeps happening more and more slowly because those athletics don’t believe that America lives up to that potential in the song as it once represented. As well as the incidents that happened with the police of excessive force being used against people unassertively.
Are you not allowed to emphasise any part of the Anthem and sing the anthem how it is? Are you allowed to do what you want? Ever since the infamous kneel by San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick during the first preseason game of the 2016-2017 season these questions have been going through a lot of American’s head of how should you treat the National Anthem. In the Newsela article “Sports events have a way of sparking
Athletes sometimes silently protest to make changes to what they believe is wrong. The Washington Post published an article called,’The athlete as agent of change’ which discusses stories about athletes kneeling or facing away from the flag during the national anthem. For example,”... Toni Smith, the then 21-year old senior guard on the Manhattan College women’s basketball team who expressed her opposition to the Iraq War in 2003 by turning her back on the flag.” Toni Smith expresses her belief that she does not want the United States to go to war with Iraq because she thinks it is wrong.
During the first three preseason games of the 2016 NFL season, Colin Kaepernick formerly quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers sat through the national anthem in protest of police brutality towards African American individuals. When asked about it, Kaepernick said, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.” News outlets immediately attacked
Holly Pryle Emily Chappell English 121 22 March 2018 Kneeling for the Anthem Every American child is raised with the knowledge that they were born in a country that by law gives them freedom of self-expression and the right to protest. However, this right does not mean that people must agree with you and in many cases, groups wind up at odds over differing opinions. Over the past few years America has seen many examples of this, most notably football players protesting injustice by kneeling during the anthem.
A controversial topic currently circulating throughout the media and society, is professional athletes kneeling during the National Anthem. In my opinion, this is a completely useless, unnecessary action done just for attention. The theory behind the action is supposed to represent unity. Unity is not achieved by causing controversy, but it’s achieved by coming together and supporting each other when times get tough.
Being at an NFL game was not the correct time or place to hold a silent protest, and there are people that fight to give Americans the freedoms and rights that they have, so why disrespect those who risk their lives for the USA. It may be one simple act of protest, but not only does it disrespect those fighting but their family and friends too. Like every situation in life, there are two sides to every story, both sides of this one have reasonable arguments. In conclusion, most people frown upon any type of act to disrespect those who give them their freedoms and rights, as well as those who’s duty is to keep communities