“The Star-Spangled Banner” has been performed before all sporting event since World War I. But since then, the game has changed. 

NFL player Colin Kaepernick began his protest for police brutality and equality for all by refusal of standing for the National Anthem.

Kaepernick began the protest by sitting on the bench during the anthem during a preseason game in August 2016, he was playing for the San Francisco 49ers.

It didn’t take much for it to grasp the attention of the viewers.

Kaepernick has faced adverse reactions from the government and critics who were disgusted with his action against the Nation Anthem.

His protest led to repercussions of not getting signed on any teams for the upcoming football season.

Today, the protest is continued by NFL players by kneeling during the National Anthem.

NFL protest player, Eric Reid, explained his discussion with Kaepernick before kneeling against the National Anthem by stating, “We could make a more powerful and positive impact on the social justice movement. We spoke at length about many of the issues that face our community, including systemic oppression against people of color, police brutality and the criminal justice system. We also discussed how we could use our platform, provided to us by being professional athletes in the NFL, to speak for those who are voiceless.”

The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, is furious and disgusted by the action of the NFL players showing “no respect his his country” by their refusal to stand during the Nation Anthem.

He responded to those protestors on twitter stating, “The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our county, flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this.”

At a political rally to his supporters in Alabama, Trump declared repercussions that any NFL player who does not stand during the National Anthem shall be fired.

He said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired!’ You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s gonna say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’”

Trump’s remarks on the protest expanded worldwide as a demonstration to other leagues such as soccer and hockey. Also, it decreased the population of the NFL players to not show up during the Nation Anthem.

Students around campus, who are huge fans of the NFL,gave their opinions on this protest.

“I believe that the NFL players aren’t protesting the Nation Anthem; they’re protesting against police brutality and inequality throughout the world,” Kassidy Garcia, freshman toxicology major said.