When walking around campus at the University of Colorado Boulder, I was surprised to hear that many students forgot about their football team’s absence during the playing of the national anthem.
In recent months and years, the national anthem has received much attention, largely thanks to the rituals of athletes from across the country during the ceremony.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the impetus of this discussion two years ago when he sat during the playing of the anthem in a preseason NFL game to protest racial inequality and police brutality towards people of color.