Playing Ball and Standing Tall

Vice President Mike Pence walked out of a Colts game he attended because of the disrespect the athletes showed towards the United States. Over the last two years, NFL players led by Colin Kaepernick have been kneeling during the national anthem to bring awareness to police brutality for African Americans. The debate stems from two beliefs: one that players should use their platform to push for social justice, and the other that players should just play the game and voice their concerns off the field. Athletes who express their political concerns on the field, while they may have the right intentions, only serve to further separate an already divided nation. The introduction of politics into sports has transformed a bipartisan national pastime into a platform to further divide citizens and has also disrespected the flag, active military, and veterans.

Many United States citizens believe that athletes have the right and responsibility to use their platform to express their political beliefs. According to Stan Van Gundy, the Pistons basketball coach, “when these professional athletes protest during the anthem, they exercise one of the very freedoms for which our military men and women fought so valiantly”. The first amendment protects these protesting athletes, so they can say or do whatever they want as long as they don't incite violence. Many believe by exercising their first amendment rights they honor the men and women who fought so hard to secure that freedom. By standing up for minorities, these players fall in line with many who started a change for the better. Another article at The Atlantic believes that “they are kneeling in an effort to defend the very core of the Declaration of Independence”.

By standing up (or taking a knee) for what they believe in, these athletes push for freedom similar to how the founding fathers pushed for freedom. By protesting police violence they show their efforts to end an attack on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Athletes fall under the protection of America’s laws, morals, and Constitution and clearly try to put an end to injustice in America. While athletes have the right intentions in mind, they use the wrong stage to push divisive ideas. Jonah Goldberg at the National Review argues that “people from all walks of life can engage in friendly conversation about this widely shared cultural institution”. Sports have always been a vehicle to unite Americans, in spite of whether them having African American, white, Hipic, or Asian ethnicities.

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At a time when the citizens of our country have been split and pulled towards polar opposite sides on the political spectrum, having a common ground for people to unite is vitally important. Voicing political concerns remains a right of any athlete, however using a bipartisan platform to argue only one side of such a divisive topic simply serves to further divide our country. Efforts by Kaepernick and other athletes alike have only pulled people farther into their political biases. While these athletes may have fired up supporters, they further angered opposers who simply wanted to forget about politics at a sporting event. General Martin E. Dempsey stands for the flag “not because [he agrees] with everything America has done, or everything that has been done in America's name, but because despite all of that the world is a better place because America exists”.

The United States has a long history of being the beacon of freedom to the rest of the world. By not standing for the flag, not only do athletes disrespect members of the military who fight for this country, they disrespect America’s entire history of fighting for freedom. The United States flag represents all that America has accomplished, and by kneeling during the national anthem, many people view protesting athletes as ignorant and disrespectful to the men and women who fought so hard to secure their liberties. Almost everyone agrees that America needs to put an end to police brutality. If these athletes presented these problems off the field, more Americans would understand that athletes don't wish to disrespect America, just shed some light on pressing social injustices. In order to truly achieve their goals, athletes need to voice their political concerns off of the field.

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