49ers’ Colin Kaepernick sat during national anthem and sparked national debate; what’s your contribution?

Written by Marcus Thompson

My sister is one of the bravest people I know. And not because she served in Iraq — where she endured the trauma of facing death daily, of guarding entrances with guns bigger than her leg, of trying to cram the spilled intestines of her comrade back where they belong. She is so brave because she returned to America and continued her fight for veterans.

My sister, Oakland native Nicole Hart, started her own nonprofit in Arkansas, ARVets, to help provide veterans much needed basic services. She could be making millions. She is that bright and likable. Instead, she is spending her young adulthood hustling to secure basic services — jobs, housing, education — for veterans and their families. She exhausts her own means toward this effort because it is so needed.

And the reason it so needed? Because too many Americans feel like honoring veterans happens during national anthems at sports events. Because our affection for soldiers and their sacrifice is mostly confined to a two-minute rendition of a song. [read more…]