Colin Kaepernick, 49ers NFL athlete, has been a prevalent topic throughout the United States, and it’s not because of football.

Kaepernick is protesting against oppressions of people of color, police brutality and the lack of prosecution of police officers who have murdered African Americans.

The media is picking up on Kaepernick’s stance, because he chooses not to stand during each NFL pre-game national anthem. Many find it disrespectful that he will not stand for the flag or the national anthem, but there is a deeper message that people are failing to examine.

Lawrence Doty, professor at Linfield College, said, “It is unfortunate that this issue has actually been politicized to the point that it is overshadowing the real issue of police brutality and killings against black men.”

The problem that many people have is that the American flag tends to represent patriotism and respect to those who have served for this country.

During Kaepernick’s press conference he gives a deeper explanation expressing his respect to his relatives, friends, and other men and women who have fought for America. He is using his platform to wake America up to deeper systemic issues that are impacting the lives of many.

Any aware citizen has witnessed recent media coverage of the many murders of African American men and women in the past two years alone by police shootings. Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Alton Sterling are just a few names that quickly come to my mind, because their deaths too, have gained media coverage.

The coverage is important because many are oblivious to the systemic problems African Americans face in this country.

Videos surface, and still, people find an excuse why the black man or woman was in the wrong.

By defending the murderers, one is ultimately defending racism, which makes one racist. There is a lot of bias in policing since racism is a problem in America.

Racism is based on power and being inferior to other people. When racism is embedded into systems such as policing, it makes sense how mass incarcerations of people of color are the norm in this country.

This wrongly influences people’s perceptions, and leaves them to not question issues, simply because these are not issues they have to face daily.

Not only is this a scary topic, it is also a topic that many get ridiculed for standing up against.

Racism is key to America’s existence. The fact that so many African Americans are being murdered, and there are not convictions or prosecutions of the murderers, is enough proof that racism is still an issue.

These young men and woman being murdered are modern day cases of Emmett Till. If you have never heard that name, I suggest you do research and study more African American history.

These are small altercations, which turn into another lost son, daughter, brother or sister.

Nobody deserves to lose their life because of the lack of police training and education in America. It takes longer for a student to get through cosmetology school, than it does for a police officer to get through their academy training.

African Americans have had to alter their beings to fit into a society that accepts these aggressions.

There is one topic African American parents have to discuss with their children at a young age that Caucasian parent’s do not have to, but still should teach.

The topic involves how to correctly cooperate with police officers, how to handle micro-aggressions and how to handle the daily set back of racism.

Kaepernick’s stance shows how quickly it upsets America when a man will not be patriotic for his country.

The main message is, were you mad when another African American person was killed in police custody?

Perhaps Kaepernick would stand up for the national anthem if more people would stand up against discrimination, racism and police brutality.