There has been heated debate over the NFL athletes’ contentious move to take a knee during the national anthem in silent protest against police brutality. Fans and observers began strongly criticizing the seemingly unpatriotic and disrespectful act.

Police brutality became a public issue after repeated uploads of videos showing police shooting and killing unarmed African American men on social media. The fact that some of these police officers don’t serve any prison time for murder has drastically increased the outrage for the act of injustice.

“The recent events in the past few years have really highlighted the unjust discrimination black people experience,” senior Joy Kim said.

Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers originally started this protest against police brutality over a year ago, which at the time was not immediately noticed by the public. He began sitting on a bench during a preseason game, and later transitioned to taking a knee in order to show more respect for military veterans.

“When I saw them move towards taking a knee or putting a fist in the air, I saw [it] as a sign of honoring what’s going on rather than just sitting down,” English teacher and football fan Courtney Klein said.

Team members began joining Kaepernick’s initiative one by one. It came to be that most, if not all, NFL teams had some players protesting. Baseball and basketball professionals have also joined in.

the White House repeatedly attempted to re-brand the protest as a protest of the American flag instead of one against police brutality and racism in the U.S., compelling fans to turn against their favorite teams and athletes. President Donald Trump especially became a catalyst for the protest when on Sept. 23, during a campaign rally in Alabama, he said he wished NFL players would be fired for kneeling during the national anthem.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b**** off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired,'” said Trump, as reported by The Washington Times. “You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy that disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And the owner, they don’t know it, [but] they’ll be the most popular person in this country.”

Following Trump’s criticism, some teams chose not to come out onto the field. Others allowed their players to continue to protest at their own discretion. As a result, during the Oct. 1 NFL games, there was more standing and less kneeling, which was viewed as a victory for team President Trump. However, players found other ways to protest.

“About 15 raised their fists either during the anthem or afterward, while Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch wore a T-shirt before the game saying, ‘Everybody-vs-Trump,’ then sat on the bench as the anthem played,” according to The Washington Post.

This protest eventually led to backlash, with fans commenting that politics should be kept out of sports. Counter-protests from fans included booing in stadiums, burning jerseys and vowing to stop watching games. A recent counter-protest that gained a lot of attention was Vice President Mike Pence’s walking out of an NFL game on Oct. 8.

“You can say, ‘I want politics out of sports,’ but if you disagree with the kneelers and agree with the president, then you view the kneeling as bringing politics into sports, and the tweet from the president as completely fine. It’s the reason why people argue so much about politics,” physics teacher and sports fan Jeff Brocketti said.

It is notable that hypocrisy is observed on both sides. Fans have booed the kneelers, but cheered the vice president walking out of the game. Others argue the athletes are exercising their individual rights and freedom of expression, but condemn the president’s blunt comment on the issue.

“If everybody could just take a step back and put themselves in someone else’s shoes, then maybe we’d just have a whole lot of understanding in this country,” Klein said.

Though this protest is seen as a divisive issue, many believe the national discussion it is causing is a positive effect.

“I think having a two-way discussion is something that’s good. The point of a protest is to start a narrative and start a discussion, and that’s what [the kneeling] is doing,” Brocketti said.