Our opinions are our own. However, we understand the complex. We also understand that this is a country based on symbols: the flag, the national anthem, the bald eagle, and the red, white, and blue. We also understand that some people feel disrespected by certain NFL players kneeling for the national anthem. Some believe that when a player  kneels, they’re saying that they don’t respect the men and women who fought for this country. But that’s the thing about symbols. They can be interpreted in many different ways.

A common belief among most people is that anthems represent patriotism. However, patriotism is defined as a vigorous support for one’s country. Colin Kaepernick, who was the first player to kneel at an NFL game during the national anthem over 13 months ago, stated that he refused to honor a song or “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

All over the world, people are arrested for voicing their opinions. In 2012, Bahareh Hedayat, an Iranian student activist, was put in prison for 10 years for insulting her president. In 2014, Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years behind bars, 1000 lashes, a 10-year travel ban, and a lifetime ban from appearing in the media. He was convicted of violating Saudi Arabia’s draconian information technology law. The United States Constitution protects us from suffering a fate like these  people did. Everyday, we see something on the news about someone insulting our president. Luckily, those people are not going to be beaten and put in jail. The First Amendment allows everyone the right to state your opinion, but it also gives others the right to disagree with that opinion. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says “Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Veterans fought wars to protect our right to this amendment. That’s another thing about the Constitution. You don’t get to choose which rights you’re fighting for.

Until 5 years ago, NFL players were not even required to come out on the field for the national anthem. In 2012, the Department of Defense began paying NFL teams to be visible during the anthem, but in the 2017 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League, there is no requirements of what players are required to do during the anthem.

A big controversy is that this was not the correct time or place for this protest. To those who think that, we have only one question for you: If this protest was not so televised, not so public, would it have gotten as much recognition as it did? Would it have gotten the attention that it deserved? We’d like to believe the answer is yes. Unfortunately, that’s not the world we live in. It’s well acknowledged that if it didn’t happen on social media, it didn’t happen.

Protests about black oppression and police brutality have been going on for a while now. It took over 200 NFL players kneeling for the anthem for attention to be drawn towards the subject. Some other protests about these topics were cruel and were based solely on violence. This was not one of them. When players are kneeling, they are not protesting the military. Just like Rosa Parks wasn’t protesting public transportation. Just like Gandhi wasn’t protesting food. It’s about calling attention to the injustice.

You can say that kneeling for the national anthem is disrespectful. You can say that players who are paid $11 million a year have no right to feel oppressed. You can say that they are rich, arrogant, and ungrateful athletes. You can say that and nobody can stop you from believing that. However, one thing that most people don’t understand is just because you’ve never felt oppressed, doesn’t mean that oppression doesn’t exist. You can be black, brown, white, or yellow. You can be of any race, gender or religion. If you haven’t felt discriminated against, you probably haven’t been discriminated against. If you have, then you shouldn’t have to be afraid to protest, and you shouldn’t feel like you don’t have a right to voice your opinions.

We believe that oppression exists. We also believe that police brutality exists. So we believe that if you want to take a knee, take a knee. If no one can force you to kneel, than no one should be able to force you to stand. The key is not to make this a country where everyone is forced to stand for the flag. The key is to make it a country where everyone wants to.