One of the debates that has been raging in the United States for some time is the question of whether or not it is disrespectful for NFL players to "take a knee" during the national anthem.

It all started with quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the anthem in order to make a statement about racial injustice and police brutality in his country. It was his belief, and that of those who joined in his nonviolent protest, that they could peacefully stand against these injustices here, where the whole country can witness their actions.

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Other NFL players joined in, taking a knee and refusing to stand for the national anthem at their games - and it caused a fair amount of backlash from those that believe it is disrespectful to the country, the flag, and military veterans. There was a country song protesting the protest, and Donald Trump called those who protested "sons of b****es".

While there are many who have argued from both sides of the issue, a recent speech made by Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat running for office in Texas, has gone viral. When one audience member at a recent campaign stop asked him whether he thought taking a knee during the anthem was disrespectful, he said no, adding "I can think of nothing more American".

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Offering several examples of how peaceful protests for civil rights brought about significant social change in the United States over the last century, he put forward the notion that Kaepernick and those that have followed in his example are doing the same:

"Non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it.

"That is why they are doing it. And I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully, standing up, or taking a knee, for your rights, anytime, anywhere, in any place."

The response has quickly gone viral, once the clip made its way around Twitter.

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However, it hasn't changed the mind of Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who O'Rourke will be challenging for the Senate later this year. "When Beto O’Rourke says he can’t think of anything more American — well, I got to tell you, I can," Cruz responded.

Cruz and O'Rourke are locked in a tight race at the moment, and while Cruz is ahead 49 to 43 - according to a Quinnipiac University poll - O'Rourke reportedly has momentum on his side. The state has been dominated by Republican votes for over two decades, but these recent polls may be showing a significant change for the Lone Star State.

Now that this footage has gone viral, and Cruz' response hit the internet, we may see things change further. We'll have to see which way the public lean on this, and other issues, in November.

Drew Brees has said he will "never agree" with players kneeling during the national anthem amid the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

He made the controversial remark on Wednesday in an interview with Yahoo Finance when asked for his thoughts on how the NFL should respond to the resurgence of the movement when the new season begins.

"I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country," the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints said.

Brees justified his view by saying that the national anthem makes of him think of the military sacrifices his grandfathers made during WW2. He also thinks "about all that has been sacrificed, not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movement of the '60s and all that has been endured by so many people until this point."

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"Is everything right with our country right now? No, it's not," Brees said. "We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and we are all part of the solution."

The act of kneeling during the national anthem was popularised by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who did it to protest police brutality in the US.

However, Kaepernick was faced with widespread criticism for his action both from within the NFL and from observers including President Trump.

But despite this, Kaepernick was joined by other players in this form of protest, and it has now spread to other forms of sport and even the police force itself, with North Carolina police recently kneeling in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protestors. 

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Brees has now been slammed by his fellow sportspeople and fans for his statement about the national anthem.

LeBron James tweeted: "You literally still don't understand why Kap was kneeling on one knee?? Has absolute [sic] nothing to do with the disrespect of [U.S. flag] and our soldiers (men and women) who keep our land free." He also pointed out that his father-in-law served in the military and, "never found Kap peaceful protest offensive because he and I both know what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong!"

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Michael Thomas, Brees' teammate, also condemned his statement, tweeting: "We don't care if you don't agree and whoever else how about that."

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Former 49ers nose tackle Ian Williams told Brees to "stop hiding behind the flag and let your racism be seen for what it is."

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Meanwhile, another Twitter user who identified himself as a Muslim Marine explained that as a serviceman, he did not find the act of kneeling during the anthem offensive.

"Knowing why some NFL players knelt in the first place ie raising awareness for racial justice, I don't find their action disrespectful to my service or the Flag," he said.

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VT proudly supports Black Lives Matter, and for ways to contribute to the cause, please click HERE.

For the past two years or so, several NFL players have found themselves at the centre of a political debate after making the decision to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racism in the USA. The most notable of these players is Colin Kaepernick, who began demonstrating in such a way back in 2016.

Originally, Kaepernick sat on the bench during the anthem but, in September 2016, after a former NFL player and U.S. military veteran, Nate Boyer, he began kneeling on the field as a sign of respect for those who have fought for the country. Since then, others have followed suit - almost always to a negative response.

Most recently, Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson of the Miami Dolphins took a knee during the anthem before their game against the Tennessee Titans this weekend. Robert Quinn also protested by raising a fist while everyone sang.

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Kaepernick shared his support for the players, saying: "My Brothers @kstills and @ithinkisee12 continue to show their unwavering strength by fighting for the oppressed! They have not backed down, even when attacked and intimidated. Their courage will move the world forward!"

He then shared the quote: "Love is at the root of our resistance!"

The protests are against all forms of racism, of course, but take a primary interest in the continued racial prejudice shown by law enforcement officers towards black Americans. Just today, in fact, a white police officer has been charged with manslaughter after shooting her unarmed black neighbour in his own home. She claimed that she thought it was her own house, and that he had broken in.

Unfortunately, far too many similar stories have made the press in recent years, meaning that the incident is not a one-off, but rather part of a much larger, more sinister pattern.

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Despite their good intentions, however, the players kneeling in protest have received a lot of hate and negative criticism for their actions.

Last week, when Kaepernick became the face of the new Nike campaign, thousands of people took to social media to announce that they would be boycotting the sportswear brand, with some even going so far as to burn and destroy products that they had already bought from the company.

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Even President Donald Trump has weighed in on the matter more than once.

Back in 2017, he said at a rally: "Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b***h off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’" And then, after the new Nike campaign was released, he said: "I think it’s a terrible message," before adding, "Nike is a tenant of mine. They pay a lot of rent."

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None of that could get in the way of Stills, Wilson, and Quinn, though, and it's unlikely that it'll prevent any further protests. In fact, the more publicity that demonstrations like this get, the more they are likely to occur.

These three players, along with Kaepernick, will no doubt be remembered as cultural icons who campaigned for change when nobody was willing to listen. All those who burned up their Nike gear, on the other hand, will probably go down in history for very different reasons.

Yesterday, the National Football League announced major changes regarding its policy surrounding the national anthem. The new rules mean that teams who have players that refuse to stand for the anthem can end up being fined for their player's conduct.

According to the new policy, players who choose to sit or kneel during the anthem will now have to do so "in the locker room."

“It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic. This is not and was never the case,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “We believe today’s decision will keep our focus on the game and the extraordinary athletes who play it—and on our fans who enjoy it.

"This season, all league and team personnel shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem," Goodell added.

Players had been "taking a knee" during the national anthem since Colin Kaepernick began doing so in 2016. At the time, Kaepernick would sit down during The Star Spanged Banner in order to highlight the mistreatment of people of color in America. He said: "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. 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 and getting away with murder."

Because of his roll in the protests, Kaepernick has been left without a team and is now a free agent. However, despite the fact he divided fans, there were plenty of players who supported their colleague and still do to this day.

The NFL's change of policy may have been popular with certain fans of the sport, but it drew swift backlash from players, with the NFL Players Association quickly noting that the league "chose not to consult the union in the development of this new 'policy.'"

Individual players who take part in the protest or supported their teammates throughout the ordeal, criticized the move, issuing statements across their social media in which they openly criticized the league and its rationale.

Malcolm Jenkins, a player for the Philadelphia Eagles, accused the league of thwarting "players' constitutional rights to express themselves and use our platform to draw attention to social injustices like racial inequality in our country."

Jenkins vowed not to "let the decision silence me or stop me from fighting" and his sentiment has been echoed by fellow professionals such as Torrey Smith, Damon Harrison and Chris Long.

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However, one person who thinks that the league has made the right decision, is President Donald Trump.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Trump said that the NFL had done the "right thing," but didn't agree that players should even be allowed to protest in the locker rooms.

"You have to stand proudly for the National Anthem. You shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe they shouldn’t be in the country," he said.

It's not the first time Trump has discussed the issue, the president has regularly weighed into the debate surrounding the protests, with him accusing players who knelt of "disrespecting" the USA.

Despite this, he denies that his opinions on the matter were the reason that the NFL decided the change the policy.

"I think the people pushed it forward; this was not me. I brought it out," he said. "This country is very smart; we have very smart people and, you know, that’s something ideally could have been taken care of when it first started, it would have been a lot easier, but if they did that, they did the right thing."

At the end of the day, Kaepernick's kneel wasn't hurting anyone, so what is the big hoo-ha? No one should be forced to stand for their national anthem, it should be a matter of choice.

You have by now undoubtedly heard about the NFL protests, in which players are "taking a knee". It all started with the now much-maligned quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem to make a statement about racial injustice in the U.S. The NFL player said that he couldn't stand for and respect a country where black people are still being oppressed and on the receiving end of police brutality. Perhaps due to these actions, Kaepernick left the 49ers in March this year, and is yet to be signed by another team despite being lauded as a great sportsman. His protest was taken up by other NFL players, who similarly took a knee and refused to stand for the national anthem at their games. Donald Trump then weighed in, taking the elegant and presidential route as always by instructing NFL coaches to fire anyone who takes a knee, and calling anyone who joins in on the peaceful protest a "son of a b*tch". Now, country singer Neal McCoy has released a new song in opposition to the protests in which players attempted to draw attention to systemic racism and police brutality, with his new, terribly-titled, song: Take A Knee, My Ass (I Won't Take A Knee). [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/nbc4i/status/931605656284536833]] You can see what he was going for with the title, but it definitely doesn't work as well without the emphasis that comes with saying it out loud. He clearly came across this problem himself, choosing to add what it really means in parenthesis, which just highlights how badly-worded the title was. As you can expect, a plethora of people came out to mock the song and it's name. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/931682167041622016]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BunkiePerkins/status/931688845124554755]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/flubby/status/931688237814501376]] This really does go to show how the structure of a sentence, even one as short as this, can change a meaning of a sentence - with many joking about what he may mean by the song. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/jamesmcnamara27/status/931674448180035584]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/onlxn/status/931637706458664961]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/kashanacauley/status/931629669966692352]] He also posted the music video, wherein the title has been changed to the much-clearer "Take a Knee... my Ass!" The video features a slideshow of photos of the men and women serving in the military, as well as shots from funerals and of the veterans who have suffered serious injuries - all while he talks about patriotism and why he'll always sing the national anthem and put a hand to his heart. Bob Costas, a noteworthy sportscaster for over 30 years, had a compelling take on the issue. "Wrapping yourself in the flag and honoring the military is something which nobody is going to object to," he said back in September. "We all respect their sacrifice. We all honor their sacrifice, and yet what it has come to mean, is that the flag is primarily and only about the military." "Martin Luther King was a patriot, Susan B. Anthony was a patriot, dissidents are patriots, school teachers and social workers are patriots," he continued. Ultimately, Costas' point of view is that protest against the flaws you perceive in your country is a patriotic act. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BbcJBSllf2K/]] McCoy, who is known for hits such as Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On, has since spoken about the song to media outlets, informing them that the song isn't really against those who choose to take a knee. Speaking to Fox News he said: "This song is exactly what I stand for. It's not a slam against people who are taking the knee, that they don't have the right to do that - I understand they do - I just think it's kind of the wrong time, wrong place kind of thing for me" It's unclear what the right time and place would be for the country singer, and when you listen to the song it does seem to be critical of those who protest in this way, so it's unclear what his ultimate intent would be other than hoping that players like Kaepernick wait until another time to use their right to free speech.