Skip to main content

US athlete protests cruelty on minorities by denying respect for flag


An American major league football star has refused to stand for the US national anthem before games due to oppression of African Americans and other minorities in the country.
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," said San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernickbe on Saturday as quoted in an AP report.
"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."
Kaepernick sat on the team's bench Friday night during the anthem before his team played host to the Green Bay Packers in an exhibition game. He later explained his reasoning in an interview with NFL Media .
According to the report, Kaepernick is biracial and was adopted and raised by white parents. He has been outspoken on his Twitter account on civil rights issues and in support of the growing Black Lives Matter movement.
Kaepernick, however, is not the first prominent American athlete to use the US anthem for protest. In 1996, a Muslim National Basketball Association (NBA) player, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, refused to stand for the anthem, insisting that the United States had a history of tyranny and doing so would conflict with his Islamic beliefs.
The NBA promptly suspended Abdul-Rauf, who is an African American, for his stance -- in open violation of his first amendment right of free expression and freedom of religion – but it later lifted the ban after he said he would stand and pray silently during the national anthem.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick emphasized on the principle of his protest effort insisting that he is not worried about any potential consequences.
"This is not something that I am going to run by anybody," he told NFL Media. "I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. ... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right."
This is while NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy stated on Saturday that "players are encouraged but not required to stand during the playing of the national anthem."
The 49ers issued a statement following published reports of Kaepernick's remarks, saying that Americans have the right to protest or support the anthem.
However, Abdul-Rauf was not afforded a similar treatment in 1996 in what many observers at the time attributed to his Muslim faith and his race. It remains to be seen what the eventual fallout of Kaepernick’s protest will be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

General Qasem Soleymani's letter to the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate Obama has sent a rude and threatening Letter to Imam Khamenei (d.z) , Iran's Supreme Leader. Few days later Imam Khamenei (d.z) proclaimed that he replied to Obama's threatening letter. People were eager to know about the answer but no one was aware of the letter's content. Cmdr. Qasem Soleimani sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America, a letter that may help us to find out about the content of the Supreme Leader's letter. The so-called letter made Americans furiously angry so that the United State Congress issued Cmdr's assassination. To find out how important was this action, it would be interesting to describe the procedure through which the letter was received by The Secretary of Defense United States Department Of War includes seven protective filters four of which are specifically designed to monitor data sent to secretary of defense. . Sending a letter ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iran, Turkey, Qatar mull land route amid Saudi crisis

Turkey seeks to establish a land route via Iran for trade with Qatar which has relied on both countries for sourcing food since a diplomatic crisis broke out with Saudi Arabia. Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Saturday was in Tehran where he was expected to discuss using Iran’s land route to facilitate trade with Qatar, Anadolu quoted him as saying. "We're thinking about alternatives for land trade routes with Qatar but the easiest way is passing through Iran," Zeybekci said, according to the news agency.  He traveled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in of President Hassan Rouhani along with delegates from around the world. It was not immediately clear who was representing Qatar in the ceremony.  Turkey has used a land, air and sea blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to flood the tiny peninsula in the Persian Gulf with its goods but Zeybekci said using cargo planes to carry products was no...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yemeni tribes joind hands to counter Saudi aggression

Yemeni tribes in different provinces have joined forces to counter the deadly Saudi aggression against their country, vowing revenge for the blood of the innocent. In the northwestern province of Hajjah, the tribes of the Sharafein district expressed their readiness to deploy forces to the battleground in response to a call issued by the tribes of Khulan and Sanhan, Yemen’s al-Masirah television reported on Saturday. Bani Sara tribe in al-Shaqadreh also said that it was prepared to team up with Khulan al-Tayal tribe to score a victory against the Riyadh regime and take revenge for the recent Saudi carnage in the capital, Sana’a, which was denounced by rights groups as a war crime. Sana’a saw one of the deadliest Saudi attacks on October 8, when the regime’s warplanes bombarded a funeral hall packed with mourners in the capital city, killing more than 140 people and injuring at least 525 others. The tribe of Sanhan in Sana’a put 300 troops equipped with arms on ale...
Post a Comment
Read more