President Barack Obama said the 49ers quarterback is simply exercising his constitutional right to make a statement about social issues but others think a football game is not the appropriate place to discuss police brutality.
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At a news conference in China on Monday, the president said he did not doubt Kaepernick’s sincerity in his decision not to stand for the anthem ahead of the team’s games to protest the treatment of African Americans by law enforcement authorities in USA cities.
“I’m not anti-American”, Kaepernick said after the game.
“I don’t doubt his sincerity”, Obama said.
It remains to be seen whether Kaepernick’s protest of the anthem will gain public momentum, but other athletes have joined him in his actions, including fellow National Football League players like Jeremy Lane and Doug Baldwin Jr. of the Seattle Seahawks, and Russell Okung of the Denver Broncos.
Speaking in China after a gathering of leaders of 20 leading economies, Obama said he did not doubt Kaepernick’s sincerity in making the protest but acknowledged that it was hard for some to swallow.
But some high-profile athletes and celebrities have defended Kaepernick’s actions, including National Basketball Association legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who spoke up in defense of Kaepernick last week by calling him “highly patriotic”. “I think there is a long history of athletes doing so”.
Kaepernick “cares about some real legitimate issues that need to be talked about”.
“That is a tough thing for them to get past to then hear what his deeper concerns are”.
Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit during “The Star-Spangled Banner” has boosted sales of his merchandise. But he adds approvingly that Kaepernick has generated more national conversation about “issues that need to be talked about”. He has said that he is trying to support “people who are oppressed”.
As Obama noted, Kaepernick’s actions aren’t unprecedented – in 1996, for example, NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf declined to stand for the national anthem, calling the flag a “symbol of oppression, of tyranny”. “We live in a country where people have First Amendment rights to be able to say what they want, cause controversy”, Deruyter said.
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Praising Kaepernick for his “active citizenry”, the President said he would “rather have young people who are engaged in the argument than people who are just sitting on the sidelines and not paying attention at all”.
