2) The protests have nothing to do with the military
Many opponents of the demonstrations say the player protests are disrespectful to the men and women in armed services. But none of the players who’ve participated in the demonstrations are taking a stand against the U.S. military. As noted earlier, Kaepernick began taking a knee out of respect for servicemembers — who honor fallen soldiers by kneeling before their graves.
“The media painted this as I’m anti-American, anti-men-and-women of the military and that’s not the case at all,’’ Kaepernick said in September of 2016. “I realize that men and women of the military go out and sacrifice their lives and put themselves in harm’s way for my freedom of speech and my freedoms in this country and my freedom to take a seat or take a knee so I have the utmost respect for them.”
