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National Anthem Protest Essay

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This free essay discusses the National Anthem Protest which was first started by Colin Kaepernick in the NFL and has now spread to many players both in the NFL and other major sports.  We will provide you with example titles, related topics, an outline as well as all the major parts of an essay (thesis statement, essay hook, introduction, body, conclusion, works cited).  This can be used as a template/guideline/reference in helping you write your own paper.  If you need help writing, please review our "how to write an essay" tutorial. In 2016, a football player with the NFL named Colin Kaepernick made the decision to stop standing for the National Anthem as a means of protesting the fact that unarmed African Americans are killed by police in disproportionate numbers, usually without any repercussions for the officers who engaged in the killings.  After hearing from a veteran that he found Kaepernick’s decision to sit on the bench to be disrespectful to the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces, Kaepernick invited that veteran to sit down with him and discuss the issue.  Together, the men determined that, rather than sit on the bench, Kaepernick would kneel on the sidelines.  The decision to kneel, which has a history in civil rights protests and can be seen in various forms and fashions in images captured during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, was intended to be a form of respectful protest.  However, immediately there was a backlash against Kaepernick. A free agent, he found himself without a job for the 2017-2018 season, even while many other athletes, in all level of sports, began to take up the same protest.  The issue became even more heated when President Trump went on television and called the protesters “sons of bitches” and called upon the NFL to fire any NFL player that refused to stand for the National Anthem.  The NFL teams responded in various ways, but most responded with a show of solidarity for their teammates.  The NFL organization later made it clear that its league-wide policy was not going to be to fire players who engaged in peaceful sideline protests.  Many people vowed to continue their boycott of the NFL.  However, Kaepernick remained unsigned for the season and filed a complaint against the NFL, alleging that the teams worked together to keep him unemployed.

Titles



Patriotism and Protest

False Patriotism: How Forced Nationalism Undermines the Constitution

Police Brutality and African Americans: How the NFL Protests Are Bringing Light to a Serious Social Issue

Does Protest Equal Disrespect?  Are Some Acts of Protest Inherently Disrespectful?

Related Topics



White Supremacist Rallies in Virginia- Many people have compared the general lack of outrage to white supremacists marching in Virginia with the seething anger and resentment over these protests.  You could compare and contrast the two issues to determine whether the comparisons are fair, or you could use that idea to bolster arguments in an essay about the kneeling controversy.

The First Amendment- The freedom of speech is one of the most misunderstood of our Constitutional Rights.  You could write an exploratory essay about the freedom of speech, examining whether a private employer, like the NFL, has the right to compel employees to engage in political speech that is not directly related to performing their job-related duties.  Is there a fundamental difference between requiring a singer to perform the National Anthem as part of a performance contract and requiring football players to stand for the National Anthem as part of their contract?

The History of Protest Among African American Athletes and Entertainers- This essay briefly touches on the topic, but African American athletes and entertainers have historically used their platform to help bring attention to social justice issues.  You could examine specific people, specific movements, historic trends, or backlash against them.

The Difference between Patriotism and Nationalism- At the heart of the Kaepernick controversy seems to be a very serious question about what types of behaviors constitute patriotic behavior and when patriotism turns into nationalism.  An essay could explore those topics and whether nationalism is actually dangerous to a county.

Outline



I.  Introduction

II.  Body

A.  What Kaepernick is protesting

B.  Actions by NFL players that have not resulted in boycotts

C.  The decision to take a knee.

III.  Conclusion

Introduction


 However, the protest never had anything to do with Kaepernick’s feelings about the military and still does not reflect feelings about the military.    The protest was specifically aimed at bringing attention to social injustice experienced by African Americans.  To understand the protest, one must first understand those issues.  Second, NFL fans have failed to boycott the NFL in the past despite players being convicted of crimes ranging from drug possession to murder, and continue to watch games despite a large number of domestic violence offenders being on the NFL’s active rosters.  Third, the decision to take a knee was made specifically to simultaneously show respect and protest.

Essay Hook



Despite his efforts to show respect while engaging in peaceful protest, Kaepernick quickly became the most controversial football player to ever play in the NFL.

Thesis Statement



The fact that Kaepernick’s protest is being portrayed as disrespectful, even though kneeling has long been considered a sign of respect, has much more to do with what he is protesting than how he is protesting.

Body



What Kaepernick is Protesting



Although other people have tried to reframe Kaepernick’s protest and inject into it a scorn or derision for the troops, Kaepernick has always been very vocal about his reasons for protesting.  He felt a growing sense of discomfort about the social injustices in U.S. society, particularly about the fact that African Americans are disproportionately targets of police brutality and that police who kill or harm unarmed African Americans are rarely, if ever punished.  Moreover, though his own life was relatively privileged, he felt like he had a moral responsibility to use his platform to bring attention to this issue:

“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 told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder” (Wyche 2016).

Kaepernick was not the first athlete to use his position to bring attention to social justice issues.  In fact, it is well-documented that professional sports have provided an opportunity for African Americans to succeed that has often outpaced the rest of society.  As a result, there is a tradition of African American athletes using their fame as a platform for social justice.  Muhammed Ali used his platform to speak about civil rights and was often reviled because he was an activist.  WNBA player Seimone Augustus wears “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts in warm-ups and post-game press conferences to bring attention to the Black Lives Matter movement.  John Carlos and Tommie Smith made international headlines with a 1968 Black Power salute on the medal stand at the Olympics.  In 1970, the Syracuse 8, a group of African American football players at Syracuse University used their position as…

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