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Colin Kaepernick


  • Please stop saying the past is in the past. It isn’t.

    by Perry Greene

    Nike dropped its Air Max USA 1 shoe after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick worried that the “Betsy Ross” flag design harkens back to an era of black slavery and has been used by white nationalist groups. 



  • Battles over patriotism, Pledge of Allegiance in schools span a century

    by Randall Curren and Charles Dorn

    Seventy-five years ago, at the height of America’s involvement in World War II, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that guaranteed public school students’ right to refuse to stand in patriotic salute.



  • Colin Kaepernick and the Legacy of the Negro National Anthem

    by Brent Staples

    The truth is that the maxims about freedom implied in the song describe a condition the country has yet to achieve. People who confront that reality by kneeling prayerfully on the football field are often more determinedly patriotic than those who reflexively stand.



  • Before Trump vs. the NFL, there was Jackie Robinson vs. JFK

    Jackie Robinson, the hero who integrated Major League Baseball in 1947, spoke out loudly for civil rights and challenged President John F. Kennedy to stop dithering on black equality. Unlike Trump, JFK sought to understand Robinson’s complaints.