We, the undersigned, kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, members of the NFL, athletes, people of color, and all women and men who call attention to the long history of radicalized violence propagated by white supremacists in the United States of America.

We align with the message that Mr. Kaepernick brought before the world in 2016, that “[we are] not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

To us “this is bigger than football and it would be selfish . . . to look the other way.”

While many commentators wish to whitewash these demonstrations as a question of patriotism or free expression, we call on all Americans to hear the voices of those who have been brutalized by racist violence, past and present, and we focus our attention on the actual tenor of the protests as imagined at their inception.

We kneel in solidarity:

against white supremacist oppression enacted by law enforcement at the ballot box; through discriminatory business and educational practices;

against the terrorism of Klansmen, skinheads, neo-nazis, and the judicial system;

and to recognize that the history of the American flag includes not only fiery slogans of red, white, and blue - freedom and independence - but also the stains of blood in indigenous genocide and Manifest Destiny, triangular trade and the horror of the auction block, of Jim Crow and of mass incarceration.

As we kneel in solidarity against historic white supremacist power, we draw attention to the need, as Mr. Kaepernick states: to continue fighting against oppression until "[the American flag] represents what it’s supposed to represent."

We kneel in solidarity with a long history of freedom fighting athletes including Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson, John Carlos, Tommie Smith and many others.

Athletics has a tradition of showcasing the political pulse of where a nation is and where it should be, as we raise our aims higher than the generation before us!