Colin Kaepernick was exercising his natural born right

Regarding Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during our national anthem: When you are born in the United States, according to the Constitution, citizenship is automatic and comes with a bundle of rights that we all have.

Included in this is the right not to love your country and not to have to demonstrate your approval of it by symbolic means such as wearing a flag pin on your lapel, putting your hand on your heart during the Pledge of Allegiance or standing hatless during our national anthem.

Particularly for people who have been denied equality in this country by our shameful and tragic history of injustice and racism, I can well understand why anybody might not want to give their tacit approval of the symbols of our patriotism.

We may have come a long way in terms of correcting the wrongs of our national heritage, but we have a very, very long way to go before we can claim to offer “equal justice to all.”

Don’t forget: It is we the people who grant our collective authority to our government.

It is not the government (nor any man) who can dictate to us what forms of patriotism we must show as allegiance.

This story was originally published September 3, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Colin Kaepernick was exercising his natural born right."