The 2017 NFL season has been loaded with controversy over players either sitting down, taking a knee, locking arms, or even raising fists during the playing of the National Anthem.

The movement first began when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat down during the National Anthem in a 2016 pre-season game. He was protesting police brutality. In 2016 alone, 39 unarmed African Americans were killed by police.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick had said then. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”

A lot of Americans were outraged by Kaepernick’s peaceful protest last year, so why are more people joining him now?

Well, it traces back to President Trump’s tweets: “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our great American Flag (or country) and stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED! Find something else to do!”

His next tweet cannot be printed in a student newspaper due to the vulgar language. I’ve always had a problem with how much of a bad mouth our president has. He just needs to take a big bite of soap and clean up his act.

In protest to the president’s tweets, some team owners locked arms with players at the next game and several issued statements supporting the players’ freedom of expression. President Trump spoke up about how he wasn’t trying to fuel any racial tension.

“This has nothing to do with race or anything else,” President Trump said. “This has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag.”

It seems that Mr. Trump totally misinterpreted why the NFL players were even kneeling. It’s not to disrespect the many people who fought for us or our freedom. I’m very thankful for the fact that someone fought for my rights, and it seems that many of the NFL players are, too. President Trump was only looking at one side of the protest — not the protest as a whole. The whole reason why this protest started was because of inequality, not because they hate America or the military.

As a privileged white man, Donald Trump will never fully understand what this protest means to people of color. He’s rich and powerful and so can get away with making explicit comments. Clearly Mr. Trump hasn’t dealt with any oppression whatsoever. So what gives him the right to make this protest about something it’s not? The fact of the matter is, yeah we do have way more freedom compared to most other countries in the world. Yet, we’ve been dealing with the same issues since the beginning of time: racial inequality — that’s the bigger picture.