Colin Kaepernick Sits During National Anthem Before Packers vs. 49ers

Dissenting opinion: non-violent protest actually displays an inherent faith in our system, not disrespect.

Reasonable Americans do not approve of injustice, racial violence or biased police practices. We can all agree that these things are NOT in line with the ideals we volunteered to defend.

Let me give you a fact that I discussed with a junior Soldier who works in my wife's office: more white people than black people are shot by the police. This is a fact. In point of fact, it's an almost exact 2-to-1 ratio.

Black people are about 13% of the population. Also a fact.

For the sake of this discussion, I assume that we are ALL patriots.

Which is the more egregious condition, a man refusing to stand for the National Anthem, or people being killed unjustly?

As an African American, I'm becoming increasingly distressed by people who get their backs up about the protest, but couldn't care less about real issues that have affected and continue to affect real Americans in sometimes fatal ways.

LTC Greg Henning My biggest problem with the episode is that he is a man who has made millions of dollars playing a kid's game. He has not had earn what he has by overcoming adversity. He is a talented enough athlete to be among those that are able to compete for a starting NFL quarterback position. He is not repressed. He is living the American Dream. So it is humorous to me that he is "taking a stand." I also find it hypocritical for him to be saying that he will sit during the National Anthem until something changes. A more sincere form of protest would be putting those millions to work making the community he lives in a better place. Funny that I didn't hear him mention anything about community outreach in his statement.

He is only acting on the freedom that we all swore to defend. We may not approve of his actions but we must defend them. By ignoring the freedoms he has to protest his dissatisfaction we in a sense disrespect those who died to defend it.