A few days later, a conversation with a former NFL player and Green Beret convinced Kaepernick to kneel, rather than sit, out of respect for members of the military. It was this action, taking the knee, that would come to be associated with Kaepernick and with racial justice protests in sports around the world.

Colin Kaepernick (born November 3, 1987, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.) is an American gridiron football player and social activist who had success as a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers (2011–16) of the NFL but was better known for kneeling during the national anthem before games to protest racial injustice and police brutality against African Americans.

In an interview with online magazine Paper, Kaepernick said his protests were a response to a deadly December 2015 confrontation between San Francisco police officers and Mario Woods, 26, in the city's Bayview neighborhood.

The then-Niners quarterback had refused to stand for the anthem in a game before this one, but this was the first time it was noticed. After the contest, he told NFL.com’s Steve Wyche his reasons for kneeling: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color.

American footballer Colin Kaepernick took the knee during the national anthem before a match in 2016. He said he could not stand to show pride in the flag of a country that oppressed black people. Getty Images Colin Kaepernick (centre) began taking a knee in 2016