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The NFL opened its 2016 season with solidarity and protests while honoring the victims of 9/11. The Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs locked arms during the National Anthem, while several other players from around the league knelt.

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But during President Obama‘s pre-recorded remarks calling for unity, many NFL fans reportedly booed.

Roland Martin, host of NewsOne Now, addressed the schism, saying, “I find it interesting there are people mad at [Colin] Kaepernick for protesting, saying he’s unpatriotic … yet when the president of the United States gives a video [speech] talking about unity on 9/11, he gets booed and no one says anything.”

That behavior is unpatriotic and disrespectful, to say the least.

Craig Eugene, III, vice chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, added, “The same folk that are more outraged that Colin Kaepernick and others are protesting have been the same folk that have been disrespecting the president for the last eight years.

“It’s the same crowd that asked for his birth certificate, the same crowd that asked for his college transcripts, it’s the same crowd that’s probably backing Donald Trump.”

He added that Kaepernick’s critics prefer to bash the quarterback’s protest while remaining “silent on police brutality.”

Furthermore, he said naysayers like “to invoke Dr. King’s [name in contrast to Kaepernick], [but] if they actually go back to the 1963 ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, [King] clearly says, ‘We will never stop until police brutality ends.’”

Watch Roland Martin and the NewsOne Now panel discuss the ongoing backlash against NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

SEE ALSO:

More NFL Players Join Kaepernick National Anthem Protest

Hypocritical NFL Fans Angry About Kaepernick Protest Boo President Obama & Remain Silent About Brutality  was originally published on newsone.com