On the Sept. 12 edition of FOX Sports One’s “Undisputed,” sports commentator Shannon Sharpe talks about the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick’s protest.
After the NFL season-opening weekend, players around the league joined the San Francisco 49ers QB’s protest of the national anthem.
These additional protests drew the ire of many fans, who claim the protests take away from commemorating the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
However, Sharpe points out the blatant hypocrisy of the critics. He says that the country is united during the Olympics and the World Cup.
But there must be a foreign adversary to have unity in this country, he says.
“We’re talking more about the protest itself opposed to the issues Colin Kaepernick started protesting in the beginning,” Sharpe states. “This was about police brutality … The flag does not represent all and everything to everyone. Frederick Douglass once said … the Fourth of July is independence, about freedom. But, what does it mean to [a slave] who is not free? If you look at Francis Scott Key, who wrote the anthem, they don’t sing the third stanza … Here’s a guy that owned slaves … Back to this united front. Are we going to be united only on 9/11?”
The commentator adds that fans wanted unity but booed President Barack Obama when he asked for it.
Sharpe says the conversation around Kaepernick’s protest should focus on the issues, not the manner in which people have protested.
