#TakeTheKnee

Written by Stacey Khizder

Last Summer quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem to protest the systematic, institutionalized, social, and political racial oppression that is present in modern America. It's been over a year later, and NFL owners have shunned Kaepernick from their teams in response to taking the knee. Now, activists from across the country have vowed to boycott the NFL and other team players have started to kneel during the anthem as well. 

However there is a deeper issue here. In response to the movement that Kaepernick started, President Trump has called on NFL owners to fire players who take the knee, only because he finds it "disrespectful" to the flag and the anthem, even though it is in the players' Constitutional rights to have the freedom to do so. This is the same President that called neo-Nazi's "very fine people" for acting on White-Christian supremacy and did not condemn their free speech as hate speech. 

In the eyes of the President, the Constitutional only protects white, Christian, straight men. As he criticizes people of color, women, LGBTQ+, and other oppressed groups for exercising their Constitutional rights, he is silent and soft when addressing acts of hatred and white supremacy. This not only reveals his bigotry, but also his hypocrisy when it comes to valuing freedom of speech and liberty.

Right now, Liberty is Not Found.