President Barack Obama described Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest as “messy” but said Monday he supports the San Francisco 49ers quarterback’s constitutional right to protest.
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Kaepernick was booed last week in San Diego when he continued to kneel as The Star-Spangled Banner was played before the 49ers’ preseason game at Qualcomm Stadium.
“When there’s significant change, and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way it’s supposed to, I’ll stand”, Kaepernick said.
President Obama addressed the Colin Kaepernick national anthem protest controversy in a news conference at the G-20 meeting in Hangzhou, China.
Obama was referring to Kaepernick’s decision to not stand during the national anthem out of his sense of injustices in the United States against people of color.
“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way”, Kaepernick said. “We need to have a more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country”.
The president, speaking at the G20 economic summit in China, said he has not paid close attention to the issue that’s overtaken the National Football League news cycle.
“I think it’s actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way that a lot of the media has covered it and made it about something that it absolutely isn’t”, she told American Soccer Now. The NFL star said he loves America and wants to get people talking about police brutality.
Kaepernick has been assailed since starting his silent protest.
Kaepernick, who led San Francisco to the 2013 Super Bowl but has since been demoted to backup, is the latest professional athlete to use his celebrity to call attention to the issue of the mistreatment of minority groups by law enforcement.
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His move also prompted U.S. professional soccer player Megan Rapinoe take one knee during the anthem when her Seattle Reign played the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday evening. “It was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it”.
