By now you’ve probably heard about the protests during the national anthem, and thrown your two cents in about it too, whether on Facebook or Twitter or whatever.

The Black Lives Matter movement and the more recent protests against injustice in America have opened a fierce debate, one that is unfortunately growing more violent by the week.

One person has died in Charlotte, North Carolina during protests over the death of Keith Lamont Scott, the latest police-related protest to hit the streets.

But the action that’s elicited the most hate is actually the most peaceful, and has had a wider effect on myself than any previous demonstrations.

As a 49ers fan, seeing Colin Kaepernick kneel didn’t make much sense to me at first and I didn’t think much of it when I saw the first headlines, because what really struck me was how vicious people were in going after him for this, calling it disrespectful and so on.

You may not like that Kaepernick isn’t standing, it’s a controversial thing to do and since then I’ve found it hard to sit still even though I agree with his ideology, I commend him for opening so many eyes to something serious going on in this country.

I had heard about other killings and protests of the kind, but never before had I gone and read up on the issue thoroughly. All the commotion about Kaepernick was what drew me to learn about this issue, and I think others should do the same.

And during an election year, all the debates swirling the country needed was a swift kick in the pants by football players at all levels, some who have come out against it and the growing number of players who have decided to embrace Kaepernick.

Players who have decided to kneel have been met with anger, prejudice and an overall ignorance towards their message from others, who probably don’t realize that such emotions are the basis for the protest in the first place.

Condemning these actions as ‘un-American’ is not only wrong, but doing so doesn’t solve anything either. We should be trying to learn about important issues, not demeaning each other over them.

I know everyone is busy, but is it too much to go see what the issue is all about before spouting off an uninformed opinion?

If you don’t want to read, you can go watch the video of Tulsa Police shooting unarmed Terrance Crutcher almost immediately upon their arrival, and then try to attack those who are protesting police brutality.

The goal isn’t to try and get everyone on the same side, it’s to get everyone on the same page with the same facts. So go ahead and read, watch and listen; do whatever it takes to help you understand the truth.