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Mateo V. Watson
Professor Hawkins
ENC 1101
10 October 2017
Word count: 1181
“Take the Knee”
Athletes of every sport should have the right just as any ordinary citizen of the
United States to express his or her opinions/ political views without the aggression of
financial and social suppression. Our fathers who were humbled by the experience of
establishing the great country we live in, Congress is prohibited to establish any law
respecting an establishment of religion. (1) Athletes have a right to take advantage of
their platform and express their grievances on a national level without social brutality,
curtailing the careers of those with the most passion for their game and their country.
(2) If terror groups such as the Ku Klux Klan have a right to protest and express hate
speech that slanders those of different backgrounds and label reputations that
demoralizes the opposing color, and not face any legal penalties for such actions. Why
does a person like Colin Kaepernick, former QB for the San Francisco 49ers dealt with
swift “social justice” from the top brass of League leadership? (3) This is a wakeup call
to America that minorities will no longer be silent to the injustices they face daily. That
those with the popularity and power of a national sport behind their back, athletes
present themselves as the voice of the voiceless.
In 1969 the Supreme Court of the United States V. New York established that there is
a freedom to be intellectually diverse or contrary, and we all as a collective have a right to
differ as to things that touch the heart of our existing order. The people may even encompass
the freedom to express publicly opinions about the flag, which include defiant or
contemptuous. Sometimes public expression of ideas deemed unnecessary, grotesque
outreaches directly into our humble abodes. When Donald Trump attacked a half-dozen or so
football players who, instead of standing during the traditional national anthem prior to
football games, “took a knee” by kneeling on one or both of their knees during the anthem,
hundreds of players on television took a knee in what some claim to be as defiance towards
the president. Last year, Colin Kaepernick, began taking a knee at NFL games to protest the
excessive use of force by police. He was the subject of mild but hidden criticism by those
