The American flag for many people symbolizes many values they hold true in their lives such as freedom, liberty and justice. However, some people value the idea of freedom and justice for all rather than acting on our principles as a nation. Colin Kaepernick, former quarterback of the San Francisco 49er’s, has been the focal point of athletes taking a knee during the national anthem prior to NFL football games in protest of the killings of unarmed African-American men by police officers.

After a year of back and forth by both sides of the spectrum, one glaring thing missing from Kaepernick’s protest was that not a single white NFL player or any white athlete for that matter had joined in the protests. One of the retorts to the protests of these athletes were people’s correlation between the anthem and the military.

Like wildfire the word spread around the league, and the antithesis reared its head to reject and shame the stance taken by the veteran quarterback. In a league and sport like the NFL, where there’s such a strong correlation between patriotism and the military, the backlash was predictable. But it was not justified. Black athletes are trying to parlay a message that is just not willing to be heard by those who have a false emotional connection between cloth and the military. It was clear the message had fallen on deaf ears.

A census done by Statista in 2015 showed 77.7% of the military was white. Another barrier needed to be taken down. The support well respected player in Chris Long of the Eagles who embraced teammate Mike Jenkins during the national anthem of one of the Eagles preseason games. The ball began to role as Browns’ tight end Seth DeValve took a knee with his African-American teammates and made it clear that he supported their cause. DeValve wanted to do it for his future children who would be part African American.

Perhaps now with the voices of white players, we can start to strive for the betterment of everyone in this country and acknowledge the idea that some people just aren’t always treated fairly by those in power. However, wherever there’s a threat to change, there will be push back, and it will be there every step of the way as we try for better things. As we see more players taking a stance, white and black, the message will grow stronger and create a greater chance for change.