Wrong on anthem kneel

There are two separate but connected issues in the recent NFL/Trump controversy. The first issue is Trump injecting himself into the business of the NFL, a private organization, and telling the owners to fire anyone who kneels before the flag. The fact is, this borderless person has no business to get into a business that is not his business to get into. To add insult to injury, he called anyone kneeling before the flag a "son of a b----." By uttering such foul epithet in public, he has demeaned the office of the President. He had demeaned himself beyond repair long before he became President.

The second issue is the racial divide, the elephant in the room, which few white people want to acknowledge. Thus, anyone trying to raise awareness of this troublesome issue is branded as a "troublemaker." Naturally, the vast majority of Americans erroneously believes that black players disrespected the flag by kneeling before it. The flag is a symbol of national unity, and today this country is divided along racial lines: Whites versus Non-whites. The black players are forcing the smug whites to acknowledge this problem and do something about it.

In the 1940s British labeled Mahatma Gandhi as a troublemaker. In the '50s Mandela was labeled as a troublemaker. In the '60's Dr. M.L. King Jr. and Mohammad Ali were called troublemakers. Now it is Kaepernick's turn to be labeled "troublemaker." Now that Trump is President, this "elephant in the room" can no longer be ignored.

K.P.S. KAMATH, Cape Girardeau