Lauren Duca Teen Vouge writer
During a football game in August of 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the national anthem to protest police brutality. He started kneeling instead of sitting after he met with former Army Green Beret Nate Boyer. At the time, Kaepernick couldn’t have known that quiet action would unfurl into a landmark battle in the ongoing culture war led by Donald Trump, if only because Barack Obama was president at the time, but he did want to start a conversation about the violent, institutionalized means by which black lives are too often disregarded in this country.
Patriotism is about love for one’s country. Kaepernick risked his career — and you’ll note that he is effectively blackballed this season — through his efforts to draw attention to the police killings of unarmed black men in America. This is a despicable mark of shame on our national moral character, and Kaepernick sat, then kneeled, to push us toward the need for redemption. All of this has been obscured by yet another temper tantrum by our commander in chief.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-nfl-patriotism-thigh-high-politics-lauren-duca
