Kneeling during the national anthem is disrespectful to our country. We, the people, are the United States, and we create all the problems in the U.S. When Donald Trump directly attacked the NFL, more NFL players started taking a knee and protesting during the anthem.

On the football team, some of my teammates decided to take a knee during the national anthem. It’s not our right as high school football players to take a knee. The meaning of taking a knee is to stand up for justice in the U.S. by fighting against officers who kill African American males. However, when president Obama was in office, only one man took a knee, so it seems we are fighting president Trump, rather than supporting our people.

Colin Kaepernick took a knee Sept. 11, 2016 for the veterans who returned from serving in the military and started to be treated differently. This has resulted in them living in poverty. However, NFL players have changed this to protests against racism.

We needed to take a stand years ago when black on black crime started increasing in states and when gang violence became increasingly common and no man took a knee in that time.

As high school athletes, we should be united as one during the national anthem and give respect to a group of people who have seen our country at its worst. The way we should protest is to come together as one, not by kneeling. We, as Americans, must give the national anthem the respect it deserves and come together by standing with people who are different races than us.