Well as you have deduced I do agree with him in some regard. I'm not too bothered by the manner in which he decided to protest. I'm not sure of his exact rational. It could have been just a personal stance that to be true to his own convictions on the state of certain aspects of the American culture on race and racial equality he decided to sit. I am not a public figure so I am not sure how I would handle the matter to be honest.
I do not really acknowledge the national anthem myself. I do not disrespect those who serve, I have friends and family who have or are currently serving in different branches of the armed forces. Personally, in that regard my issues are with certain actions made by those in charge not with those that have chosen to serve and are following orders, although that is not why I don't acknowledge it. I am a Christian and my conviction is that my allegiance (patriotism in a manner of speaking) is to Christ alone. America is not my great hope. It's done some great things and some absolutely horrible things. So personally i am trying to figure out what being a Christian in an American context means to me still.
On the issue of racial inequality, i believe that it still exist. It is an extremely complex topic and while the laws are obviously in a far better place than 50 years ago, there is still racial profiling that continues both in law enforcement and business, etc. I think that it is mostly on the subconscious level and it makes it much harder to address, but I do not think that that means it does not need to be raised. I think that most people in law enforcement are probably good people, but there is still plenty of evidence that there is a race issue in this country.
In regards to a minority that has done well and feeling oppressed, I am a caucasian male so I do not have the first hand experience that many minorities have had. But I have friends who are black, and who are hispanic. They have varying degrees of education and income, and the majority of them can/have told me stories of times that they were profiled by people (strangers) because of the color of their skin. That is there experience. I cannot ignore that. Racism is still around. Is it less than 50 years ago? Yes generally i think so (I'm not that old). But the fact that it still exist needs to be dealt with. So if Colin Kaepernick has been persuaded by the evidence of his own life experience, and the evidence present in American culture at large, and he decides to protest more power to him. This appears to be the first time that he has protested anything and if he did not handle it in the best manner possible, I think we should cut him a break. He is standing up for what he believes in and I find that to be admirable.
Sorry for the long post.
