Dear future President,

Ever since 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee in a NFL preseason game against the Chargers, many people have decided to join him, and a lot of people think that it is not right.

Professional athletes should not take a knee during the National Anthem because it is disrespectful and a lot of people look up to them.

Taking a knee during the National Anthem is disrespectful because the United States has done a lot for them.The United States has done a lot for professional athletes such as giving the players a chance to play. Most of the athletes in the NFL are african american and the USA lets them do what they want to do and they can “be free”. If it were not for the USA what would most athletes be doing? They should take what they have for granted because who knows what or how NFL players would live without the USA and it’s laws.

Another reason professional athletes should not take a knee during the National Anthem is because people look up to them.Lots of people look up to nfl players from little kids, to grandparents. If kids see the players kneeling that could have them follow and they could do things like that but they do not really have a reason.

An article from ABC news quotes,” … kids ranked famous athletes among most admired people in their lives (73 percent)-second to only their parents (92 percent)” (Ziemer). This shows that what NFL players do really does have an impact on the youth which can lead to younger children disrespecting the United States.

Some people think that they should kneel because people think the words in the song are not being carried out into the real world. One example of this is in a USA today article that has Colin Kaepernick saying, “ I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color, ...” (Hafner).

“He later expounded saying until he felt “like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent..” (Hafner).

This shows that some people do not believe the flag is representing what it is supposed to represent. People will keep protesting until it does. 

To conclude, professional athletes should not kneel during the National Anthem because it is disrespectful to the citizens of the United States of America and people look up to them, although some people think the US flag is not representing what it should be representing.

Thank you for reading,

Michael M.

ZIEMER, TRACY L. "Study Says Kids Emulate Athletes." ABC News. ABC News Network, 13 Oct.

Hafner, Josh. "Why Kaepernick Is Honoring, Not Dishonoring, the Flag: Column." USA Today. Gannett, 31 Aug. 2016. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.

2000. Web. 06 Nov. 2016.