"To believe the patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds"
West Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette
319 U.S. 624 (1943)
In this 1943 case of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a school would violate the free speech rights of its student, a Jehovah's Witness, if the school forced him to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
(Dreier, P. (2017, September 28). Athletes and activism. American Prospect Magazine )
The NFL players’ protest around the National Anthem is a debate about:
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. ... There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.
There are a lot of things that are going on that are unjust [that] people aren’t being held accountable for. And that’s something that needs to change. That’s something this country stands for—freedom, liberty, justice for all. And it’s not happening for all right now."
-Colin Kaepernick 2017
"I believe our flag is more than just cloth and ink. It is a universally recognized symbol that stands for liberty, and freedom. It is the history of our nation, and it's marked by the blood of those who died defending it." John Thune