Colin Kaepernick has no good reason why he didn't stand up during the National Anthem

I am looking forward to the discussion. I will reinstate my position. I believe that Colin Kaepernick can stand, sit, sleep, etc. during the National Anthem as guaranteed by the First Amendment. However, I disagree with the reason why he chose to sit down, saying "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder" [1]. Are people of colour really oppressed as Kaepernick blurted out? Remember, he said "oppresses", meaning that to this day, people of colour still experience the same oppression decades ago. Let's take a look at Kaepernick's life first [2]. He was born to a white mother and black father who left the picture before he was born. Ultimately, his mother who cannot afford to raise the baby, opted to give Kaepernick for adoption. He was then adopted by a white couple. He also showed a career in sports and excel with a 4.0 GPA and that his mother said Kaepernick was never arrested [2]. As a quarterback of San Francisco 49ers, his net worth is about $25 million and salary of $18 million [3]. How does this sound oppressive: having a promising young life, never been arrested and earning millions of dollars annually? There aren't any claims his adoptive parents abused him and that even his own biological mother reprimanded him for "bringing shame to the very country and family who afforded you so many blessings" [4]. Kaepernick was also under investigation [5] for a sexual abuse case with the female victim allegedly saying she woke up in a hospital room. Who was being allegedly oppressed here? Certainly not Kaepernick. There's nothing really much about Kaepernick's life for he led a great one but one thing for sure, he was never oppressed. I am going to compare contemporary times to the Civil Rights era, examining whether or not the people of colour are still oppressed. Do minority groups still attend a different school designed only for them, sit at the back of the bus and theatres, have separate washrooms? The answer is no. Nowadays, minority groups can vote, attend any schools they want, sit wherever seats they want and use the same washrooms white people use. The government does not enforce any Jim Crow laws but instead the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is enforced. I don't see anything oppressive here that Kaepernick was suggesting has been inflicted upon people of colour. Kaepernick was talking about bodies in the streets, likely referring to dead black people. It is undeniable that 93% of black homicide victims are killed on the hands of other blacks than whites [6]. More blacks had committed 52% of the homicides between 1980-2008 even though they represent 13% of the population while white people only committed 45% of the crimes despite representing 77% of the total population [7]. Also, out of 6000 blacks killed by other blacks in 2015, only 258 were killed by police that year [8]. Blacks are 25x more vulnerable to other blacks than the police! I don't see anything oppressive here but Kaepernick totally ignored the facts. Instead of ranting about how the government is oppressive, he should find ways to reach out to the black communities, where at least 27% of African-Americans are living under the poverty line, compared to the 11% of all Americans [9] where poverty is definitely a contributing factor to crime. Now Kaepernick talked about police shooting black people, getting paid leave and getting away with murder. I am not denying that there is police brutality but there seems to be less sources or stories of police getting away with murder for killing a minority for NO REASON. I want to give an example. Tamir Rice, the 12 year old boy who was shot by two police officers for pointing a fake pistol, the police's decision to shoot him had at least a legitimate reason. First, the fake pistol looked authentic. Second, when the police officers tried to confront him, Rice tried to reach for the gun in his waistband [10]. A very bad move for the boy. The media exaggerated this by trying to make the boy seem harmless because he was holding a fake pistol. Indeed, the pistol was fake but the police were alarmed when the boy tried to reach for the gun as they approached. Also, I don't see this as oppressive. The boy was not even oppressed by the government or white people before he was shot. We can debate about social issues minority groups are facing but for this time, we are analyzing what Kaepernick said. Sure, there's racism against minorities but racism cannot be avoided in a multicultural country. In fact, minority groups can also be hostile and racist toward other minority groups since people come from different backgrounds, cultures and hold different beliefs. Try living as a black man in East Asia. You'd probably encounter more racism there. SOURCES: [1] . https://en.wikipedia.org... [2] . http://www.usatoday.com... [3] . http://www.celebritynetworth.com... [4] . http://bluelivesmatter.blue... [5] . http://www.latinpost.com... [6] . http://www.dailywire.com... # [7] Ibid. [8] Ibid. [9] . http://blackdemographics.com... [10] . https://en.wikipedia.org...