National Anthem Kneeling Annotated Bibliography
Topic: National Anthem Kneeling
Claim: With the freedoms offered in America, athletes tend to believe they should be able to express their rights by kneeling during the National Anthem.
Annotated Bibliography
Comstock, Nancy W. “Social Justice.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2014. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tol&AN=98402201.
This article is from the Salem Press Encyclopedia so it clearly holds some importance there. Nancy Comstock did a good job of bringing to lights elements of other religions and in doing so she uses specific terms and people to reference her statements back to. With both this and the several references she has in her own bibliography, it’s clear that this source is one to be trusted. The biggest thing that this article provides to aid in this debate is the definition of what social justice. All humans being treated equally no matter what the situation. She then goes on about the basic needs that certain groups of people should not be limited to and how humans spend far too much time in comparison between the social classes.
McEvers, Kelly. “Ex-Green Beret And NFL Player On His Role In, Reaction To Anthem
Protests.” NPR, NPR, 17 Oct. 2017,
www.npr.org/2017/10/17/558390590/former-green-beret-and-nfl-player-talks-about-take-a-knee-protests.
This article was from the NPR website. It references an outside force from the NFL
addressing Americans about the National Anthem, as well as several other articles and
interviews covered by NPR. While being a news source, NPR accurately covers all sorts
of diverse stories and since 1971 the program and it’s journalists have won hundreds of
honorable awards. The program has been around ever since the 1970’s and have vastly
grown and developed over the years. Colin Kapernick wanted to draw attention to the oppression that was happening on African Americans through the police. There are people who agree with what he was saying and wanted to allow everyone to have a chance to come together to deal with the issue. Kapernick didn’t want to offend anyone in what he did but he felt compelled to do something until a move was made in the direction of change. Kneeling poses an element of respect that other soldiers give towards those who have fallen.
Miller, Andrea, and Julia Jacobo. “Taking a knee wasn’t the first time athletes protested social
injustice on the field.” ABC News, ABC News Network,
abcnews.go.com/US/taking-knee-time-athletes-protested-social-injustice-field/story?id=5
0081504.
Throughout this whole article there were hyperlinks to other articles and sites about information crucial to the topic. The big element that makes this article a credible source is how it references other events in history where black athletes took a stand for social injustice as well. Knowing that those events truly did happen makes the rest of the article more believable. The main point that this article brings up is making sure that America learns how to respect each other’s voices. The athletes that took a stand in history- such as Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali paved the way for small changes to be made during their time and now the time has come for new athletes to take a stand for what they believe to be the truth as well.
“Refusing to Stand for the National Anthem: Top 3 Pros and Cons.” ProConorg Headlines,
www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005323.
This article gives both the pros and cons to kneeling during the National Anthem, which
gives good reasoning that it isn’t biased. Founded in 2004, the ProCon website has become “the country’s leading source for nonpartisan (unbiased) information and civic education.” Not only do journalists use this source as credible information but so do multiple state governments (34) and departments of education (17). Colin Kapernick says that the issue he is trying to represent is a whole lot bigger than football- he is against social injustice not the military/police or even America. The situation may not have received so much attention if a less noticeable action had taken place. Often times sports icons are the ones we hear the most about and when they do something big it never fails to make the headlines. Kneeling is in fact a peaceful protest. “There is no finer form of appreciation for our sacrifice than for Americans to exercise their freedom of speech.”
Zirin, Dave. “Taking a Knee: It’s Working.” Progressive, vol. 81, no. 8, Dec2017/Jan2018, p.
- EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=126378317.
According to the footnotes in the article, the author is Dave Zirin, host of the popular Edge of Sports podcast and sports editor of the Nation. Being around sports a majority of the time, he clearly knows the pressures athletes are under to feel like they need to represent their country. In addition to his experience in the athletic field, Zirin also references several other outside sources to back up the points he makes. The biggest point he does make is that the goal of those who are protesting is not to change people’s personal opinions on the subject, it is simply to spark a change. However he also states the importance of making sure that the focus of the protesting is in fact on racism and police brutality.
Additional Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/sports/national-anthem-protests-black-athletes.html
http://www.history.com/news/how-football-protest-and-politics-have-always-mixed
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/22/559336275/out-of-bounds-nfl-protests-during-the-national-anthem