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NFL Players Kneeling During National Anthem: How Colin Kaepernick Started a Movement and Why











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                                                                                             Photo Courtesy of google.com
        DeMaurice Smith, execu-              the league should make a                                                   R

        tive director of the Nation- rule against kneeling dur-                   while at the same time                U
        al Football League Players  ing the national anthem.                      disrespecting our Anthem,             T

        Association, referring to            “If NFL fans refuse to go            Flag and Country? Change              A
        the First Amendment’s                to games until players stop          tax law!” Trump wrote on              L
        guarantee of the right to            disrespecting our Flag               Twitter. Asked to explain             I

        free speech.                         & Country, you will see              Trump’s comment on the                T
                                             change take place fast,”             NFL and taxes, Sanders                Y

        On Sunday, Sept. 24,                 Trump wrote in a series of           said, “The federal tax law
        teams and players across             tweets on Sept. 24. “Fire            doesn’t apply here, but
        the country took a stand             or suspend!”                         certainly we know that

        against the president’s                                                   they receive tax subsidies
        comments by kneeling or              Trump escalated the feud             on a variety of different

        linking arms with team-              even further on Oct. 11,             levels.”
        mates. Some teams opted              when he suggested on                 A country divided?
        to stay in their locker              Twitter that the league

        rooms during the national  should no longer get tax                       A majority of Americans
        anthem ahead of their re-            breaks if players continue           feel that President Don-

        spective games.                      to kneel, prompting NFL              ald Trump’s comments
        In the days since, Trump             team owners to consider              on NFL players kneeling
        has defended his original            requiring football players           during the national anthem

        statements in the days               to stand for the national            are not appropriate, ac-
        since, has rallied a boycott  anthem. “Why is the NFL                     cording to a poll released

        against the NFL and said             getting massive tax breaks           on Oct. 11, but those sur-

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