![]() READ MORE: Stars pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II following her passing at age 96 We look at the National Anthem and other crucial facets of the British identity, following the Queen's passing and explore how long it might take for the full transition to be made for King Charles III's reign. Queen Elizabeth II has been across our coins and our notes for seven decades and we've been singing God Save the Queen for just as long, but what will happen to the National Anthem now we have a King? For several years, he continued to train as if he were in the league while attempting to find a new team, eventually filing a grievance alleging that the league’s owners-many of whom were vocally opposed to the protests he began-had blackballed him.The death of Queen Elizabeth II, aged 96, marked a landmark moment in British history and was felt across the world.Īs Britain's longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth reigned for 70 years, becoming the Queen at 25 years old on 6th February 1952 after the death of her father King George VI. Despite having significantly better credentials than many other free agent quarterbacks, Kaepernick was not offered another NFL contract. The 49ers floundered as Kaepernick’s protests continued to polarize Americans, and he decided to leave the team following the season. Trump and other conservatives would continue to criticize Kaepernick for the rest of the season, during which Trump shocked the world by winning the 2016 election on an “America First” platform that vehemently opposed the growing calls for police reform. President Barack Obama defended Kaepernick’s “constitutional right to make a statement” while NFL Commissioner Robert Goodell said, “I don’t necessarily agree with what he’s doing.” Donald Trump, then the Republican nominee for president, said that players who knelt should “try another country,” echoing the views of many NFL owners. He knelt before the final preseason game on September 1, joined by his teammate Eric Reid, and by the time the NFL season got underway, a number of players from around the league were doing the same.įor the rest of the season, every gameday began with media speculation about whether certain players would kneel, how their coaches and fans would react and how the protests would affect relationships between players and management. It was this action, taking the knee, that would come to be associated with Kaepernick and with racial justice protests in sports around the world. A few days later, a conversation with a former NFL player and Green Beret convinced Kaepernick to kneel, rather than sit, out of respect for members of the military. The 49ers released a statement saying that they recognized his right to do as he wished during the anthem, while the NFL stated that it encouraged but did not require its players to stand. Kaepernick was recovering from surgery in the summer of 2016, during which he commented on social media about the police killings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castille, Charles Kinsey and Freddy Gray, and didn’t dress for the 49ers first two preseason games, during which he sat for the national anthem. In 2014, he signed a six-year contract extension, but injuries led to uncertainty about his future. Drafted by the 49ers in 2011, Kaepernick became known as one of the best running quarterbacks in the NFL and nearly won the Super Bowl in 2012, scoring two touchdowns as the 49ers lost 34-31. This simple action, which Kaepernick makes no attempt to broadcast to the public, gives rise to a controversy that will bring to light the racial tensions within American sports, determine the fate of Kaepernick’s football career and reverberate across the sporting world for years to come.īorn in Wisconsin in 1987 to a white mother and an African American father, Colin Kaepernick was adopted by a white couple and raised in California. At an NFL preseason game on August 26, 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remains seated as other players stand to observe the national anthem.
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