Celebrity DJ and record producer, Steve Aoki, recently took a knee as a sign of protest against racism with the controversial former NFL San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Both Kaepernick and Aoki shared the photo they took in front of a mural in Tribeca, lower Manhattan New York on their social media account on October 30, according to
AsAm News.
Quoting famous Japanese-American activist Yuri Kochiyama, Kaepernick wrote in his
Twitter post: “
The movement is contagious, and the people in it are the ones who pass on the spirit.”
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Kaepernick’s protest against racial injustice started back in late 2016 and his “taking a knee” stance didn’t start until September 1, 2016 during a
preseason exhibition match with his former teammate, Eric Reid.
Ever since then, many NFL players and
people outside the league took a knee to show their support for fairness and equality as well as to protest against racism. However, there are many who didn’t like what Kapernick started – one in particular is United States President, Donald Trump.
In one of his political rallies, Trump voiced his strong opposition against NFL players who take a knee whenever the United States National Anthem players before a ball game. He also called out team owners for tolerating this protest, even to the point of telling them to fire the players right then and there for “disrespecting” the flag.
Kim Pegula, one of the two owners of NFL team Buffalo Bills, took a stand and defended the players’ choice to be one with their brothers in their fight against racism.
“Our players have the freedom to express themselves in a respectful and thoughtful manner and we all agreed that our sole message is to provide and to promote an environment that is focused on love and equality,” she
said in her statement.