The 'Taking a Knee' Phenomenon Shows Celebrities have extraordinary power to influence public protest against injustice.
The wide spread effectiveness of the 'Taking the Knee' phenomenon is proof that celebrities have extraordinary power to influence public action in protest of social injustice
(This would seem to imply, by the way, that a celebrity's power to influence brings a higher level of citizen responsibility to speak out - yet so few do.)
One sports celebrity's protest against murderous racist injustice in America was copied and spread effectively around the world. It helped galvanize public protest against police homicide of African-Americans in the United States and sparked protest and public opinion against racism in other countries as well.
'Taking the knee' (or 'taking a knee') has become a symbolic gesture against racism whereby an person kneels upon one knee in place of standing to attention for the playing of a national anthem or other such occasion. It was originated by American football player Colin Kaepernick on September 1, 2016, in protest against the lack of attention given to the issues of racial inequality and police brutality in the United States.
Kaepernick had reached celebrity status for having led his team, the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII after the 2012 season and to the National Football Conference championship game the following season, becoming one of the National Football League's most exciting young stars.
Kaepernick's protest led to a wide series of national anthem protests. It has been adopted by sports players in countries across the world, including soccer matches in the United Kingdom, in solidarity with Kaepernick's protest against racism, and has been seen worldwide in non-sporting contexts such as the Black Lives Matter protests.[1]
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