Results
The repercussions of Colin Kaepernick’s simple action are spread far and wide, affecting most people in the US, whether they know it or not. From patriotic veterans to the average sports fan to modern social activists. Kaepernick has claimed that he sat during the national anthem in protest of systematic racial oppression (Branch), fueling social justice movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM) and drawing more attention to their cause. Kaepernick’s knee has been taken up by his teammates, other professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, and other sports associations, and even by high school players across the nation (Sidner). Most people have heard about Kaepernick by now, but through different sources. Based on where someone has gotten their information they may believe in Kaepernick’s movement or they may see him as just plain disrespectful to the country. Both sides of the dispute are credible, but often the voices of both arguments stay stubborn. A sensible conversation cannot take place if the people discussing are seeing the topic from two entirely different perspectives.
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Where are we now?
Some opposition claim that Kaepernick is solely acting out for attention and self-promotion. However, police brutality and racial discrimination is still a prominent issue in our society. The Kaepernick controversy is making people take notice to our flaws. Kaepernick has expressed his right to protest. He doesn’t have to be respected, but his message should be heard. Whether you agree that racial discrimination is as severe as social movements like BLM claim it to be or not most minority groups perceive it as a serious problem. That alone merits the movement to be acknowledged. Media conglomerates have different ideas though. Many networks lean far to the left or right and very few attempt to find common ground for actual discussion. Liberal news sources like MSNBC cover the spread of Kaepernick’s message and discuss social justice (Howard) while conservative sites like Fox news focus on his disrespect, as evidenced by articles like “Colin Kaepernick is the NFL’s Most Disliked Player” (Fox News). The media often only shares part of a story with us and many people only pay attention to one side of an argument. The media distorts news into only part of a whole, which then appears in our daily conversations. These different perspectives pushed onto us by media networks create more disparity among our people - a nation divided. If there is one thing we should learn from the events of Kaepernick it’s that we should try to reach a middle ground for common discussion and avoid distortion from the media.