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Essays about racism in sports
Essays about racism in sports
Police brutality and racial profiling
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People across the nation are kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racism. They believe that if they kneel during the national anthem, it shows they won’t stand for these acts in their country. If they want to get something done they should try protesting in the inner cities where the problems happen, not during the anthem, so people don’t receive the message as disrespect. It all started when Colin Capernick, a backup 49ers quarterback, decided to kneel during the national anthem at a game. This caused a national uproar due to the amount of offended people and he influenced a great deal of the players. This was aired on national television so when people watched it happen, the idea spread and spread. He says he was fighting against police brutality and racism. However, he could do it in a way that doesn’t disrespect the country. Now people across the United States are kneeling during the anthem. Consequently, it’s such an issue that the president immediately got involved. …show more content…
The president Donald Trump is calling for team owners to fire the players that won’t stand for the anthem.
He is a large advocate of firing NFL players and is against their protesting. He constantly makes statements like “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say’ Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!”. Half the nation has sided with him and the other half stands by the players. Should the players protest during the anthem? The national anthem stands for everything wonderful and beautiful in this nation. When those players kneel during the anthem countless people find it disrespectful. If you disrespect the people that you need help from to fix your problem, that problem is never getting fixed. If they didn’t protest in such a disrespectful manner their positive results would increase tenfold. They need to remember that the flag did absolutely nothing to
them. Even though they’re fighting for an important cause, they should fight in the areas where the problems happen. If the players would just go protest in the cities hundreds of thousands of people would follow them to help. There’s such a significant amount Americans that have served, or have loved ones that have served, that find their protests offensive for this to be an effective strategy. Most people are just too scared of getting shot like everyone else in the inner cities to push forward and protest. If enough people banded together they could create a gigantic difference in the quality of life for the people there. If those players worked like modern day muckrakers they’d create a noticeable difference. The inner cities are riddled with violence, poverty, and despair. They need to expose these conditions to the public if they want their efforts to pay off. If they went into the cities and photographed and published articles about what happens there they could gain a ton of support. They acquire millions upon millions, therefore, they could easily start some kind of charity or organization to help fix these problems. The cause of the players is very understandable, nevertheless there are numerous better ways they could go about it. They have the resources and publicity they just need to act. All they need to do is stop disrespecting the country, use some of their exorbitant income, and take action in the inner cities. If this works maybe we can learn how to fix some of our other problems.
Protesting is our first amendment, but showing disrespect against the American Flag is not what Kaepernick is protesting about. He is protesting about police brutality against blacks. By doing this it is going to get him and others nothing, and kneeling is an ineffective way to protest. Kneeling for the National Anthem disappoints the people who have served for Keapernick” s freedom to protest. This is why kneeling for the national Anthem is not a good way to use your First
The people that do not support the Dixie Chicks think that they had no right to criticize the government, but they had every right to. Because of the first amendment they are allowed to say exactly what they want to say. One common thing that the protestors would say is shut up & sing, this was also the title of their documentary, which explains their point of view from the comment. This is ironic because the protesters were taking away the Dixie Chick’s freedom of speak, saying that they aren’t allowed to do say things like that, but by doing this they were expressing their freedom of speech. They are saying that Dixie Chick’s that the can’t express their freedom of speech, while expressing theirs. Another important factor that lead to the downfall of the Dixie Chicks is the deregulation of the radio. This deregulation resulted in large corporations taking over almost all of the radio channel. An example is a radio corporation called Clear Channel. This radio went from having 65 radio stations to over 1,000 across the United States. Clear channel owned most of the radios located in the south which was a major factor in the Dixie Chicks issue. The south is known for its high amounts of patriotism making what the Dixie Chicks even more offensive to them. Clear Channel took a lot of offense, being from the south, from what the Dixie Chicks said and gave the fans no choice if they wanted to hear them, so they
In Anthem there are so many rules and controls, yet there is one that truly rises above it all. And that word is “I”. There is no “I” only “We”, for the great “We” is what they follow. And they are one not individual, they are one. And poor Equality can’t seem to understand that the rules are rules, but in a way he’s making his own rules. And he is mistreated for his looks and appearance and dosen’t seem really one with his brothers. And he’s curious and most don’t even question life, and he notices the little things, “Yet as we stand at night in the great hall, removing our garments for sleep, we look upon our brothers and we wonder. The heads of our brothers are bowed. The eyes of our brothers are dull, and never do they look one another in the eyes. The shoulders of our brothers are hunched, and their muscles are drawn, as if their bodies were shrinking and wished to shrink out of sight. And a word steals into our mind, as we look upon our brothers, and that word is fear.”(Rand 46). He has a wanting to learn and build his knowledge, but the rules don’t permit his decisions.
players around the NFL. The number of athletes that protested would increase from a couple on each team to nearly all of them. With the only exception being, the Dallas Cowboys. Who as a team took a knee prior to the anthem, but would all stand during it. This was due to the owner Jerry Jones why has said that no player will sit or take a knee on his team or he would cut them, but more on that later. Then there was one other person that would not join his team in protest. That person was Pittsburgh Steelers player Alejandro Villanueva. Who is a former United States Army Ranger.
Totalitarianism can be defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the centralized control by an autocratic authority. The leaders of these societies are obsessed with complete control and will take whatever steps necessary to reach such a goal. In many totalitarian societies, children are separated from their families. This is enforced on the citizens because rulers want them to be loyal to the government only. Such living arrangements can be portrayed in Ayn Rand’s novel, Anthem. In Anthem, the narrator, Prometheus, lives in a community in which all of the children born that year live in the same house until they turn fifteen. Then they are assigned a job and live with the people that share that occupation. This keeps the people from having an emotional attachment to someone like they would have with a family.
Anthem is a story of man’s struggle to be free and to fight the masses of conformity. It tells of human nature and the want to gain all the knowledge that one could possibly attain. Man loses his safe haven and his security when he lets this lust for knowledge overpower him and lets it be seen by others. He becomes vulnerable Like Johann Faust, Prometheus sells his life for wisdom. Unlike Faust, however, Prometheus is expelled from his society but gains his freedom of individuality and his freedom of knowledge and the ability to understand. In Anthem, Prometheus and Gaea sin against society to become singular and understanding much like Adam and Eve’s sin against God when they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge to gain wisdom; as a result, they can be compared to each other by there desire for learning and by their damnation.
As one reads Ayn Rand’s significant quotes from the story of anthem, there is always a main theme that is trying to escape, just as Prometheus escaped in her story. All three of the listed quotes work as a trio to sing that We; as society, works to defeat individuality. The quotes emphasize that we cannot survive without individualism and being alone brings out our unique personalities. It is true that all the quotes work as one, but at the same time they have their own individualism. Each quote holds a purpose of its own and the author wants to express the quote to each persons understanding.
How do Americans feel about kneeling in protest during the national anthem? That’s a simple answer, the views are diverse and opinionated all around. You have your right to voice your opinion however, this concept seems to daunt many as they seem to forget that, in this case, kneeling as a form of protest is an exercise of our free speech and therefore should be accepted as such. President Donald Trump is guilty of stating he’s a man of the people but feels the need to disdain many unheard voices by using offensive and hurtful commentary like, “Get that son of a b---h off the field right now! He's fired!” (Tennessean- Lowary, J) Unaware of the reasoning behind every player’s protest, Trump continues to berate his own people in more ways than
It is disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem because it disrespects the military and veterans, and could be done in a more professional way. I feel that kneeling shows how unappreciative those NFL players are. They get to go play the most popular sport in America for millions of dollars. There should be some consequences from taking this action. This protest could be done in a more professional way.
It’s not only fans who find this protest wrong, but even some players do, including Drew Brees. Brees says he agrees with the context of the protest, but not the actions of it, stating, "[I]t's an oxymoron that you're sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak out."
According to recent news, the Houston Texans are ‘not interested’ in players who protested during the national anthem.
In the article “The Emotional Attachment of National Symbols” wrote by Cynthia Miller-Idriss. In her article she believes that one of the nation’s symbols, that deserves respect is the flag. Her belief of how the flag should be respected is different from the common view of respect. She states how national symbols, such as the flag, are things that are meant to be debated in their meaning. She believes that symbols should are meant to make us transform them, wether you agree with Kaepernick’s actions. She states that debate and change are key things in a democracy such as ours.
It is easy to understand that people who served in the military or have any close connections to the military may have found Kaepernick’s actions to be extremely disrespectful, but at the same time, I do think his criticisms have been blown out of proportion. Nationalism, defined as the love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it, is enhanced by the two biggest symbols of our modern nation, our military and athletes. Both the military and our athletes, especially those who represent our country in events such as the Olympics, act as embodiments of our nation as they both put their bodies on the line to serve our nation (Beissel, 2016). Colin Kaepernick and his political statement serve as a symbol that represents our country as a whole and its imperfections. His intentions were not to show any disrespect to our military, rather by recognizing that he is such a prolific symbol that represents our country as a whole, he decided to kneel during the national anthem in order to create change. In an interview with the NFL Media, Kaepernick said, “To me, this is bigger than football and
Society seems to be doing otherwise. Overall, at least 48 NFL players from 13 NFL teams have knelt, sat, or raised a fist during the national anthem on game day. Three teams have linked arms or held hands as a sign of unity amidst the racial discord. The protests aren’t just confined to the NFL, either. Fourteen WNBA players from three teams protested in the playoffs. Star soccer player Megan Rapinoe took a knee during the anthem during a NWSL game, and later when representing the U.S. national team. Gold medal swimmer Anthony Ervin raised a fist as the anthem played during a meet in Brazil. Eight NBA teams have joined arms in unity. Even national anthem singers are taking a knee. Perhaps most significantly, protests during the anthem have occurred in at least 52 high schools, 39 colleges, one middle school, and two youth leagues in 35 states across the country and three nations abroad (Gibbs). Refusing to show honor and gratitude towards our military members has become the common issue all over the United States involving citizens of all different ages, races, and professions. While some Americans believe it is a constitutional right to be a able to express one’s beliefs, others would strongly disagree. Buffalo Bills Coach Rex Ryan voiced his opinion on "The Star-Spangled Banner," suggesting that he highly
Kaepernick was first pointed out when he was sitting during the national anthem. "As we talked about it, we came up with taking a knee because there are issues that still need to be addressed and there was also a way to show more respect for the men and women that fight for this country," (Wagoner 1). He changed the way he protested because he didn't want to come out as disrespectful. In my opinion that was a very respectful thing to do, he addressed to everyone that he did not mean any harm. Kaepernick knows what he wants as an outcome and he’s doing it in a very distinctive