This past Friday night, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made the audacious choice to remain seated during the playing of the national anthem as a form of political protest against police violence and racism in America.
The response against him has been swift, angry, and in many cases ugly. A series of commentators—mostly in the athletic and political spheres—lined up to rebuke him. So did the general public. For a taste of the sort of vitriol Kaepernick’s action inspired, simply scan the comments from online news reports, which call him un-American, selfish, naïve, treasonous, and dangerous.
Donald Trump even laid into him, “I think it’s a terrible thing, and you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him.”