This is true even when the people involved say their actions are not about Trump. NFL player Colin Kaepernick first decided to sit during the national anthem last year, before the election. "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 at the time. Most of the pro football players who chose to take a knee in recent weeks have made it clear that they, too, kneel in opposition to the killing of black Americans by police and as a call for racial justice.