National Anthem Protests

By now, nearly everyone who has access to the outside world has heard of the athletes who are protesting the national anthem. Regardless of your opinion on the gesture it seems to be accomplishing the goal of opening the dialogue that those protesting claim that they are working towards. This week it came to my attention that Colin Kaepernick, the 2nd string quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has been using his fame to reach out and open dialogues with several military members. One such member is Nate Boyer, who was in training camp with the Seattle Seahawks last season. Initially Boyer was against the gesture of sitting during the anthem, but has since talked to Kaepernick about how to accomplish his goals of bringing attention to racism in our country without disrespecting past and present military members. Since that conversation Kaepernick has donated more than $1 million to organizations to help their cause, and hes hardly the only one as a number of current NFL players partake in the protest in some way or another. Below are two links, one to the original story about Kaepernick and Boyer, and the other from ESPN that shows all the players who have participated in the protest this weekend

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/09/01/colin-kaepernick-met-with-former-green-beret-nate-boyer/

 http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/217161/nfl-players-who-protested-during-the-national-anthem-in-week-5

Colin Kaepernick kneels during the National Anthem before a game