Solidarity V Prejudice

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the US national anthem before games due to oppression of African Americans and other minorities in the country. Kaepernick sat on the team's bench during the anthem before his team played host to the Green Bay Packers

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,"he said.  “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder." He added "I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. ... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right." 

The governor of Maine declared a race war when he said that people of colour were enemies of his state, and appeared to suggest they should be shot. Speaking about Maine's effort to combat drug crime, Paul LePage said that He said: "When you go to war, if you know the enemy and the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, then you shoot at red. You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of colour or people of Hispanic origin."

FBI statistics show that 1,211 people were arrested on charges of drug sales or manufacturing in Maine in 2014. Of those, 170 - 14.1% - were black, and almost all the rest were white.