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[Video: If everybody - if anybody - sang it this well, the Star Spangled Banner might be easier for everyone to respect.]

I respect the protest by San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick to sit out the playing of the National Anthem before games as a protest against the way that nation treats minorities.

— Kaepernick decision not to stand for anthem gets league talking — AP / Salt Lake Tribune

It is useful to point out how often the facts fall short of the promise. That was the main theme of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered as part of the March on Washington 53 years ago this week.

" ... In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the 'unalienable Rights' of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'..."

But, as an old Kansas City Chiefs fan, I do remember that coach Hank Stram used to have his players not only line up along the sideline for the National Anthem, but line up in the order of their jersey numbers.

Sort of obsessive-compulsive? Maybe. But, hey, they won Super Bowl IV that way.

Related:

— Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery — Jon Schwarz | The Intercept

" ... Almost no one seems to be aware that even if the U.S. were a perfect country today, it would be bizarre to expect African-American players to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner." Why? Because it literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans.

"Few people know this because we only ever sing the first verse. But read the end of the third verse and you'll see why 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is not just a musical atrocity, it's an intellectual and moral one, too:

" 'No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. ...

" ... So when Key penned 'No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,' he was taking great satisfaction in the death of slaves who'd freed themselves. His perspective may have been affected by the fact he owned several slaves himself. ..."

— Kaepernick is asking for justice, not peace — Bomani Jones | The Undefeated

"That distinction is both subtle and significant"

— Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest is fundamentally American — Ijeoma Oluo | The Guardian

— How History Informs Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem Protest — Adam Howard | NBC News