How #TakeTheKnee Turned an Athletes’ Movement into a National Debate

Colin Kaepernick (sometimes called Kap as a nickname), is currently a free agent in the NFL and not signed to a team, but he played for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 through 2016. Starting during the preseason last year, Kaepernick began sitting down when the national anthem played before games. Eventually, the sitting turned into kneeling. Since then, many other pro athletes have followed suit. Following recent remarks by President Trump, which criticized this act of protest, #TakeTheKnee has become a global movement — and controversy. Here’s the whole story. (Photo by Harry How/Getty)

Asked about why he sat out during the anthem instead of standing, Kaepernick responded , “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave [referring to police who have killed Black people] and getting away with murder.” (Photo via Robert Reiners/Getty)

By the last game of the preseason, Kaepernick took a knee during the anthem instead of sitting or standing. Kaepernick explained that he decided to kneel instead of sit during the anthem as a show of respect to people who have served in the military, and was prompted by an open letter from Nate Boyer, a former player for the Seattle Seahawks and also a former Green Beret. (Photo via Ezra Shaw/Getty)

After Boyer published his letter, where the former NFLer discusses how meaningful the national anthem feels to him, he and Kaepernick met up to talk about the protest. After said meeting, Kaepernick and his teammate Eric Reid, who had also started sitting out during the anthem, began to kneel instead of sit. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty)

Although Kaepernick was very clear from the start that he wasn’t standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality against Black people and the oppression of people of color, many critics accused him of being disrespectful. Specifically, Kaepernick’s critics have accused him and others who joined in by kneeling for the anthem before NFL games of disrespecting the flag, the military, and the country as a whole. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty)

Many debates were had on sports shows about whether or not Kaepernick was justified in using the pre-game anthem performance. A number of current and former NFL players chimed in with critiques over Kaepernick’s method of protest, but politicians weighed in as well. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the protest “dumb and disrespectful,” and later apologized for her remarks. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

There’s no question Kaepernick’s protest made a lot of people unhappy. Many who have criticized him have said they’re angry over his method of protest, while ignoring the very real issue of racism and violence against people of color. But a lot of people were (and still are) supportive, and soon after Kap’s protest gained more attention in the media, more players began to take a knee during the national anthem. (Photo via Jamie Sabau/Getty)

Right away in the 2016 season, 11 players joined the protest. One of the players to take the knee in the first week of regular season games last year was Brandon Marshall of the Denver Broncos, who played with Kaepernick in college. Others joined the protest as the season went on, and during the 2017 preseason, Seth DeValve of the Cleveland Browns became the first white player in the league to not stand for the national anthem. (Photo via Justin Edmonds/Getty)

But despite the fact that Kaepernick took a stand for very real and serious issues that have always plagued the country, the protest remained controversial. All of this came to a head when president Donald Trump alluded to Kaepernick during a September rally in Huntsville, Alabama saying “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he’s fired.” Trump’s profane remarks immediately drew protestations from big names in the NFL and other pro athletes. (Photo via Getty Images)

After Trump’s comments went viral, individual NFL players as well as teams, coaches, and owners decided they too would take part in the protest , though some of them veered from Kaepernick’s method. A few teams sat in the locker room while the anthem played before their games, other players sat or took a knee, and some players and teams stood and linked arms together during the anthem. (Photo by Maddie Meyers/Getty)

The hashtag #TakeTheKnee trended nationally on Twitter, which people used to express support and solidarity for the protest. But some on social media used Trump’s remarks to turn Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality and oppression against people of color into a generic display of resistance to the president, or an even more general message about “unity.” Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who joined his team in linking arms and taking a knee before they played on Monday night (Jones also donated to Trump’s presidential campaign) said after the game, “Our players wanted to make a statement about unity and we wanted to make a statement about equality.” (Photo via Jim Rogash/Getty)

Celebrities outside the NFL kneeled in solidarity with the protest as well following Trump’s attack on Kaepernick. Singer Stevie Wonder knelt down on both knees “for America,” he said, during the Global Citizen Festival on Saturday. Pro baseball player Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to kneel during the national anthem in protest. Democratic Representative from Texas, Sheila Jackson Lee , also a member of the Black Congressional Caucus, gave a speech on the House floor Monday evening, taking a knee after she spoke. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson / Getty)