You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

2 NFL Players Join Colin Kaepernick in Refusing to Stand for Anthem

HeadlineSep 02, 2016

And more NFL players are joining 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in refusing to stand for the national anthem. Kaepernick began the protest last week, 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.” On Thursday night, 49ers safety Eric Reid joined Kaepernick, who knelt during the anthem ahead of a preseason game against the San Diego Chargers. That same night, Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane also refused to stand during the anthem ahead of a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. Reid and Lane are both African-American. Kaepernick is biracial: His biological father is black, and his mother is white. He was raised by two white adoptive parents. Last week, Kaepernick vowed to continue sitting until there’s “significant change.”

Colin Kaepernick: “I’ll continue to sit. I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change, And when there’s significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.”

According to The Guardian, 723 people across the United States have been killed by police so far this year.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top