So much has been made about NFL players carrying out protests during the national anthem that it’s easy to forget how this all started: Colin Kaepernick, then a quarterback for the 49ers, sitting quietly on a bench during the anthem before a 2016 preseason game.

As Kaepernick later explained, his protest had nothing to do with the military. He was protesting police violence against minorities.  After talking with Army vet and former Seahawks long snapper Nate Boyer, Kaepernick decided that, in order to show respect for those who have served, he would no longer sit during the anthem. Boyer suggested a new form of protest…

“I expressed to him, maybe there’s a different way of demonstrating, where you’re showing more respect for those who laid down their lives for what that flag and anthem stand for,” Boyer said of his conversation with Kaepernick. “I suggested kneeling, because people kneel to pray; we’ll kneel in front of a fallen brother’s grave.”

Kaepernick, and other players, have been called “unpatriotic” for kneeling during the anthem, but the idea came from a man who very clearly loves this country and has served to protect the freedoms that it provides its citizens, including the freedom to protest in a peaceful manner.

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