I am a white woman who will never understand what it feels like to be racially profiled. However, I still sympathize with people of color and try to understand what they are going through even though this may never be enough.

According to csumentor.edu, there are 48.5% Hispanic/Latino, 25.4% white, non-Hispanic/Latino, 10.8% Asian, non-Hispanic/Latino, 3.5% Black or African American, non-Hispanic/Latino and many others who attend CSUSM. This proves CSUSM is a diverse school and we must stick up for racial injustice.

When I first heard about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sitting down, then kneeling during the national anthem, I honestly did not think too much about the situation. But then I realized, this protest is important because innocent people are getting murdered due to their skin color.

We must look back into history. The national anthem’s abandoned lyrics had mentioned slavery. Francis Scott Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner and owned slaves at the time. According to CNN, “some interpretations of these lyrics contend Key was, in fact, taking pleasure in the deaths of freed black slaves.” This is another reason people may have difficulty standing for an anthem that was written during a horrible time in American history.

Kaepernick isn’t going against veterans because people who fought for this country fought for the right for someone to speak or kneel in defense of their beliefs. Our country is not perfect, no country is, but we must not stand, blinded by the hate our country continues to cast onto people of color.

Kaepernick’s movement relates to when the great Muhammad Ali opposed the Vietnam War due to the negative treatment of black people in America. He too received negative responses. Though talent-wise they are not the same, they both fought for what they believed in.

Jackie Robinson was another famous athlete that would not stand for the national anthem as well. According to CNN, Robinson wrote in his I Never Had It Made 1972 autobiography, “I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world.”

On Oct. 16, Kaepernick started at quarterback for the first time in a year when the 49ers played the Buffalo Bills. Bills fans outside the stadium were making a strong statement against him. Fans sold shirts with a rifle scope on Kaepernick, at a tailgate party fans speared a Kaepernick Dummy and fans screamed “Tackle the Muslim.”

Has this really what America has come to? One person stands up for what they believe in and all people can do is promote hatred and violence?

We must look past the conflict and the disagreements amongst each other because racism is still an issue we are going through in America. People overlook racism and do not believe racism is still alive, but it is. We must look into the message of what these athletes are demonstrating and realize they are not doing this for themselves but for black people who may one day, be murdered due to the color of their skin.