Brandon Marshall Decides to Stand

Over the past year, Colin Kaepernick has become a household name, known not just for being an NFL quarterback, but for starting the movement of kneeling or sitting during the National Anthem. One of the first NFL players to join Kaepernick was the Denver Broncos linebacker, Brandon Marshall.

Half way through the season though, Marshall announced on Instagram that for the remainder of the year, he will stand.  

Brandon Marshall is adamant that his feelings and views have not changed regarding social injustices and that there’s still more work out there to do, but he has hope for what's to come and that’s why he will chose to stand.

Marshall has been and is still currently working with the Denver Police Department and through his involvement, the Police Department is now rewriting its use-of-force policy, a policy that encourages officers to use as little force as necessary and provides specific situational guidelines.

Marshall states that he is still committed to working with organizations, one being the Idriss Shelby Foundation, that helps victims of police brutality. This also includes his Tackle Change Program, where for each tackle he makes, he'll donate $300 to certain organizations for this cause.

Brandon Marshall’s actions are incredible for many different reasons.

1.     He is one man with enough passion about improving social injustices, that he himself, got the Denver Police Department to rewrite policy. This shows us as a society, it only takes one person to make a difference.

2.     By standing up, he’s going against the status quo set on him. For him continuing to kneel would be easy, standing back up would be controversial. Marshall was brave and courageous enough to do what he believes in and stand.

3.     Marshall put action behind his stance. He is involved in multiple organizations and is an activist for this issue.

4.     He recognizes the men and women in uniform doing a good job, while at the same time speaking out against the officers that don’t.

Instagram.com/bmarshh54

Why is this important?

There's no doubt that police brutality has been an issue, especially in the past couple of years, but it takes more than just saying it to change it.

 Brandon Marshall is a role model. He puts action behind his words and changed the Denver Police Department's Policy. Marshall also stood up and gave credit to the officers that are doing their job and emphasizes how we shouldn't generalize every officer.

That one police department was willing to change, imagine how different it would be if we had more people like Brandon Marshall changing the country. To everybody, especially those little kids who model after him and Kaepernick, be the changing factor that Brandon Marshall is.

He now stands as a representation of hope. Will you stand?


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-Riley

Sources:

Gibbs, Lindsay. "NFL Player Stops National Anthem Protest after Denver Police Rewrite Use-of-force Policy." ThinkProgress. N.p., 07 Nov. 2016. Web. 13 Nov. 2016.