Colin Kaepernick and Stephen Curry are more than just superstar athletes. When they are not throwing game-winning touchdowns or shooting 3-point buzzer beaters, the two are standing up in the face of adversity. Ever since 2016, Kaepernick has been in more and more headlines because he is refusing to stand for the racial injustice occurring in America today.
Honestly, the Redskins were not that great of a team to begin with, and Kaepernick was not an ESPN regular. It wasn’t until a fateful preseason game when he decided not to stand for the National Anthem to a flag that does not really hold too much weight these days, especially for citizens with a darker skin tone. The quarterback soon became one of the world’s most polarizing figures. The public was split between hating and loving Kaepernick for the stance he took. Those who disapproved his opposition sent death threats, burned his jersey, and said he should just be grateful to be a part of the league. The officials of the NFL even gave Kaepernick the boot, making him a free agent.
All of that is basically saying “Shut up. Standing up for what you believe is not in your contract—just throwing the ball around, and possibly getting a concussion while we profit from it or stuff our faces on the couch.”
Stephen Curry has also made the news recently by being as nonchalant as can be. Curry and the Golden State Warriors were invited to the White House. It is tradition that whenever a team wins the championship, they travel to D.C. However, Donald Trump is there so who really wants to go? As an American citizen, I have never been in the White House and I would be more than happy to visit…if anyone else was president. And the 6’3” point guard, I think, would agree with me. Trump believed that Curry was not quick enough in accepting his invitation, so he rescinded it. The problem with that is, it makes you look like an imbecile when you make a big fuss about withdrawing an invite that was never going to be accepted in the first place. “I don’t know why he feels the need to target certain individuals, rather than others. I have an idea of why, but it’s kind of beneath a leader of a country to go that route. That’s not what leaders do,” Curry said after a team practice. Most people of color, including myself, are not here for Trump’s White House.
On Sunday, September 24, thousands of NFL players took their own approach on how their time would be spent during the singing of the national anthem. Before playing in their game, the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed put in their locker room as a sign of protest. Many players from the Baltimore Ravens kneeled during this time. Then, several players from the Jacksonville Jaguars locked arms and stood up to project togetherness. Racism is something people, even big football players, can fear. These expressions of objection all originated from Trump referencing Kaepernick saying “get that son of a bitch off the field, he’s fired.” Obviously, Trump thought the former Redskin was being disrespectful and anyone who dared disrespect the flag by not standing while the national anthem played should be fired. Though really, it is downright disgusting when someone who should have the most prestige and honor in the country is so concerned with one football player instead the state of the country. In the words of Lebron James, Donald Trump is a “bum.”
