National Basketball Association

Stephen Curry's Kaepernick comments were fine

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Stephen Curry said he applauded Colin Kaepernick for his protests against the national anthem. Many had a problem with it. Here’s why it’s fine.

Editor’s note: The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect and/or represent the views of FanSided as a whole.

By now, everyone around the country should know about San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sitting down and kneeling during the national anthem. He has sparked an outcry across the nation that it’s “unpatriotic” to sit during the national anthem. Many people from the NFL and throughout the sports world have weighed in on the controversial conversation. Some, such as the Seahawks’ Jeremy Lane and US Women’s Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe have joined Kaepernick in their protests.

Add Golden State Warrior superstar Stephen Curry to the list of people weighing in on the conversation about Kaepernick and his protests against standing for the national anthem. On Wednesday, he was asked in an interview to comment on Kaepernick’s decision to protest standing for the national anthem. Here is what he had to say through his interview with CNBC’s Sara Eisen:

I love that there’s freedom of speech and he can stand up for what he believes in. There’s going to be people that disagree with him and there’s going to be people that agree with him which is what I think our country stands for. Which hopefully will drive the conversation to bettering the equal rights and treatment of African-Americans and people of color. So I applaud him for taking a stand and hopefully the conversation is about what his message was and not “is he going to stand or is he going to sit for the national anthem” or whoever it is. The conversation is started and should continue.

People should be fine with Curry standing up for Kaepernick’s comments. For starters, he is an African-American professional athlete. As one of the top and most popular players in his sport, people will want to listen to what he has to say. Defending Kaepernick’s stance for Curry on him standing up (or sitting down) for what he believes in is important of all the racial issues with mainly African-Americans that have been going on throughout history and it’s time to see change.

Curry sees that Kaepernick is starting the conversation, among athletes, of racial prejudice among African-Americans in the United States and he respects his decision to do so because of the First Amendment. He sees that a professional athlete is taking action toward an ongoing social issue that has yet to find solutions to the problem. A lot of times professional athletes get so caught up into playing the game and giving back to local communities that they don’t have time to think about social issues such as racial injustice. For Kaepernick to sit during the national anthem, Curry respects that choice of starting the conversation.

Curry’s comments are great because of their positive and supportive attitude towards the quarterback’s desire to end racism. Many comments from various figures have bashed Kaepernick and no social issue is going to get resolved with negativity. Athletes are role models and should remain positive during times like this. With Kaepernick garnering a response to one of the greatest basketball players in the world in Curry, it could start a revolution of professional athletes sitting or kneeling down during the national anthem.

With Curry’s response to Kaepernick, we will see when the NBA season starts and if any players choose to kneel during the national anthem and if more NBA players start to speak out and continue the conversation of racism.