Not standing up for the national anthem part 2

link to his top selling jersey

cbssports.com

I already told ya how I felt.

General consensus was just because you have the right to do something, doesn't make it the right thing to do. Doesn't turn him into my enemy, just doesn't make any difference to me what he does. I might support his statements if I was willing to listen, but going about it in that fashion makes me unwilling to listen to him.

Well LFM quoted him to save you the trouble of having to go listen.

This is a follow up after the smoke has cleared. Basically when we hear something for the first time, we jump to conclusions withoiut knowing everything about it.

Now that you know more about the situation, and you see the reaction, does your opinion stay the same?

Also are you surprised at the support he's gotten? As far as the president of the United States supporting him, fellow athletes and musicians supporting him, and lots of people buying his jersey now.

I actually dont have a problem with it. But it was bound to be Political talking point. I remember back when the right was telling us that if we disagreed with W that we were unamerican. that being said I kinda hate to see it happening and wish things weren't the way they are. it would be great to see things settle down as far as race relations in this country.

I didn't say that I didn't agree with the sentiment, but what I said was I am still proud to be American disrespect for our symbols does nothing to help us "form a more perfect union" as the preamble to the Constitution of the United States BTW the President said he agreed with the goal but I believe this was his actual statement : “I think there are a lot of ways you can do it. As a general matter, when it comes to the flag and the national anthem and the meaning that that holds for our men and women in uniform and those who fought for us, that is a tough thing for them to get past to then hear what his deeper concerns are. But I don’t doubt his sincerity based on what I’ve heard,” he said. not exactly a ringing endorsement of his methodology.

He's a tool.

Rich fucking athlete. I will defend everyone's right to protest here in the USA. But dude (Kaepernick, and others), you're at work, you're not on your own time. Leave the protests for your own time.

I don't think Kaepernick is just trying to get himself attention. He is taking a big risk with his career. I am convinced that he sincerely believes in what he is doing. I support him.

I would like it if they removed all these shows of allegiance from pro-sports.

SJG

Maybe his jersey is top selling because everyone buying it is burning it?

Not surprised w.r.t. Kaepernick's support - particularly since the 1960s there has been a significant and often militant counter-culture/stick-it-to-the-man segment in society

Race relations need to continue to improve in this country; but the way he decided to do it IMO is pure BLM leftist shit and sorta throwing out the baby w/ the bathwater - IMO this is a case of the ends not justifying the means and IMO will cause further division instead of the other way around.

I totally agree with his reason for not standing. As one of the people of color he is standing up for, I applaud him. I also agree most people had a knee jerk reaction to "Kaepernick doesn't stand for national anthem". As that was all they heard and knew about the situation. They didn't hear or care to hear the reason behind his actions. Typical ignorance. I recall my dad's hero, Cassius Clay, doing a very similar thing years ago. Defying the draft that the US had made into law. It is not against the law to not stand for the anthem. I wonder what The Greatest would have said had he still been alive.

It's funny how it took several games of sitting during the anthem for anyone to notice if he was doing it to raise attention to a cause.

ButterMan: I consider W as the worst president in my lifetime, but during his 8 years of wrecking the economy and expeditionary wars on a credit card, I still stood for the anthem.

I don't think politicizing the ideals of our country is ever a good idea. You're not un-American if you hate Obama, Trump, Clinto (both), W, etc. There will always be problems in our country, and the whole point is we are free to talk about them to try and make things better. I find showing respect for our flag as transcending politics. Unless you show disrespect on a national stage that is. It just cheapens the whole idea of America to do that.

"It's funny how it took several games of sitting during the anthem for anyone to notice if he was doing it to raise attention to a cause."

Flagooner, I don't know if "funny" is the right word. It certainly is interesting, though, because he explained his reasoning after the first time he did it, some people just refused to hear it, which is very telling about how many Americans would rather dodge the actual issue behind the protest.

Kaepernick has pledged to donate his first millions dollars this year to charities and organizations that will help his cause --- he even mentioned veterans and explained how the country needs to do more for them when they come home (especially regarding mental health). Also, since his jersey sales have skyrocketed as a result of this (Kaepernick's jersey is the number one seller on the online nfl store), he also plans to donate the extra jersey money.

First million*

Yeah, Shailynn that's the first thing I thought too. I reminded me of something Triple H said about his WWE shirt, (paraphrased) "I don't think anyone buys a Triple H shirt except to wipe their ass with it."
Haha.

With that said, I'm glad he's bringing more awareness to the issue.

Rappers/R&B musicians J Cole and Trey Songz both wore Kaepernick jerseys during their performances over labor day; they both have pretty large fanbases so, no, it's not just the people burning the jersey contributing to the sales. Although those people have certainly helped. :)

And what IS funny is, since Kaepernick is donating his jersey proceeds to charities that will help his cause (primarily against unfair treatment / police brutality), that means the people buying his jersey just to burn them are actually giving a monetary contribution to his cause! LMAO!

Clayton Bigsby was a far better supporter and was much more involved than anything Kaepernick has attempted.

Kaepernick and several others could learn a lot about committing day to day life to a cause like Clayton Bigsby did. Long live Clayton Bigsby, a true example of what it means to fight for rights!

"Kaepernick has pledged to donate his first millions dollars this year ......."

Interesting that this pledge only occurred after his image took a major hit.

While $1M is a huge sum of money (it is a lot of money for anyone to voluntarily give away), it's not like it will impact his lifestyle. He'll still take home several million dollars this year for holding a clipboard.

People complained that he wasn't doing anything about the issue besides sitting down and talking about it, now he's donating 1M and his jersey sales and people complain about that, too. Lol

Everyone should read this. Kaepernick goes in depth to his reasoning behind not standing up for the anthem.

sfchronicle.com

I still don't care much either way. I'm surprised that the story blew up and has had the legs it got.

The irony is if the right wing media hadn't made a thing of it, it would have gone away.

Truth be told nobody is talking about the issue he is trying to highlight, which I believe is police relations with minority communities, instead he has made himself into the issue which proves that his protest is basically accomplishing nothing.

I would prefer Nina bending over and grabbing her ankles as a sign of protest. Nicer to look at than afro boy

"I would prefer Nina bending over and grabbing her ankles as a sign of protest."

I actually have a habit of doing something similar whenever police are harassing or unnecessarily pulling over any friend of mine. I talk to them using correct legal jargon so they realize I probably know the law more than them, call my lawyer and put him on speaker, and when the cops realize they ain't punking any of my friends or myself and can't arrest anyone for anything that's when I drop it low and throw my ass in a circle after telling them I make at least double what they do. I love twerking in front of police.

Twentyfive, I think his protest is effective, just not amongst those on this board.

SJG

Gee SJG if his protest is so effective why haven't any of the news shows been talking about what he is protesting, rather than the fact that he is refusing to stand for the national anthem. All of the comments have been directed at him both pro and con, nothing is being said about the actual problem. This has become a textbook example of his celebrity overpowering his message.

No it's a textbook example of some Americans' refusal to acknowledge issues that other Americans are faced with.

And, people ARE talking about the issues (in fact, other athletes have joined him or voiced their support). Just because you aren't talking about the issues doesn't mean there aren't millions of Americans who are.

Sorry Nina I don't agree with you, I do sympathize with the issue at hand though, I am very much against the form which he is using as a protest . And I do believe he is distracting from the issue rather than getting people on his side.

twentyfive wrote, "Gee SJG if his protest is so effective why haven't any of the news shows been talking about what he is protesting, rather than the fact that he is refusing to stand for the national anthem."

Normally I never see that is on television. But last night I stopped in a fast food restaurant. Couldn't hear most of the sound, but they went on for over 10 minutes about Kaepernick's method of protesting, and what he is protesting about. They interviewed Santa Clara's Mayor and Chief of Police. They don't seem to have any problem about any of this. I heard the Mayor say that this is about much bigger issues than what goes on here. So she and the Police Chief seem to accept that there are legitimate issues.

That is quite an accomplishment, getting that on TV news. Most of the time it is just like what Nina has posted, that some Americans refuse to acknowledge important issues.

I don't see that the issue would be getting this much attention without Kaepernick's protests. And the news was saying that Sunday there will be others with him.

For myself, I would like it if the NFL would just eliminate these shows of allegiance from its games.

SJG

Neil Young - A Man Needs A Maid/Heart Of Gold Suite (Live At Massey Hall-1971) youtube.com

usuncut.com

I never saw the guy. If the nfl agrees with his protest, just stop playing the national anthem before nfl games. What's going to be the next method of protesting against the country? Sticking your middle finger up at the flag? It's not like I read about every topic before posting a message on a strip club web site. Besides if you read the disclaimer for this site, you shouldn't have believed a word I said. Just causing trouble like many people claim I like to do. Might be some truth to that.

I am aware there is a problem with the police in this country. I am aware black people think the problem is worse for their race than any other race but I view it as a problem with the police in many parts of the country with everyone they interact with. Black people do get shot and killed more often it seems. Not sure of the facts. However the police are shooting and killing other races too so it's a problem with the police, not only just a race issue, in my opinion.

The Seahawks are going to protest the flag on 9/11?

sharkhunter - you have the right idea. While blacks ARE killed by police at a disproportionate rate (and racially profiled), all citizens are at risk, especially ones with disadvantages --- minoriries, disabled, the poor, etc. America has become a police state and police brutality is affected not just people of color.

Another interesting statistic is that cops are twice as likely as the average American to engage in domestic violence; 40% of women marrried to police officers have been victims of domestic violence at the hands of their police officer husbands. That is alarming, and exemplifies the combative and violent nature of America's police force. It needs reform so badly.

Don't forget to point out that innocent people are killed by blacks at a disproprtionate rate.

Stats can be manipulated to back any position.

I specifically remember a local story where a cop ran up to a car, shot and killed the white driver who was trying to drive away when a guy ran up and pointed a gun at him. He claimed he thought his life was in danger because the car moved partially toward him. I thought it was murder. The policeman got away with it. He did just recently lose his job for some other reason. The police shoot first, then claim they thought their life was in danger, they don't care what race you are in my opinion in certain circumstances. I got stopped by the kastople police one night. If they hadn't turned on a blue light in their vehicle, I initially thought it could be road rage racing down the road to get me. They didn't signal and they wanted in my turn lane I thought. I thought while in the turn lane, that if they wanted to turn, I would have let the unmarked vehicle cut in front of me if they signaled but they did not. I kept going the same speed and turned. They acted like I might have robbed a bank or something. 4 guys in swat like gear, yelling at me, telling me they smelled alcohol, I said he must be smelling things because I hadn't had a drink in over a week. He even said I sounded agitated. Yeah, really, I wonder why? I initially wondered if these guys had shot guns and what their plans were. Before I thought it was the police.

We do live in a police state. No argument there. I hate it when the cops follow you for miles. You slow down, they don't pass, you speed up enough, they pull you over.

Police check points are accepted by the masses. They claim it makes us safer. I feel more worried about the police than I do about drunk drivers or other drivers. About the only thing I get more nervous about are deer running across the road. They don't care what race you are nor what vehicle you are driving. I think I read there are millions of deer just in South Carolina. I almost hit a 6 or 7 foot long cat one time. It was the fastest cat I remember. Resembled a black panther but it was dark.

Paranoid losers

Go live in an actual police state and then come back and try and say America is one.

Rankings of police states by country. The US is ranked number 5 or number 6 raptureready.com

Definition of police state en.m.wikipedia.org Police state is a term denoting a government that exercises power arbitrarily through the power of the police force.

If you think you don't live in one and have over 100k, try to leave the country with all your money and tell us how your money couldn't leave with you. Most of the monitoring is kept secret unless you've read about it. Our government now has given themselves authority to declare anyone a terrorist and impose any restrictions on such a person without regard to any law if they want to. You can be detained without trial with the patriot act if someone wants to. Police checkpoints etc are just the little things ordinary people see. Many people see the arrogance some police forces have nowadays.

Government agents decided they were going to shut down platinum plus in Greenville. They did. If you say you have nothing to worry about if you do nothing illegal, you're just being naive. The US is not the number one police state. No one is arguing that yet.