Colin Kaepernick in 2012. Photograph by Mike Morbeck.

In the continuing saga of people I admire becoming cause célèbres this summer, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the National Anthem before a preseason game Friday to protest violence against blacks, garnering praise and condemnation.

I remain a Kaepernick fan – just as I remain a fan of Ryan Lochte. I believe people are more than the one comment or action by which we may judge them. And he, of course, has the right to protest this violence, which he understands as a biracial man in a way I as a white woman can’t.

But to me “The Star-Spangled Banner” is bigger than racism and violence, as is the Stars and Stripes. These are about our country as a whole and its place on this earth, all those Americans who came before, including those who died in defense of its freedom, and all those who have come and will come after.

I always stand for the Anthem and sing full out, in part because I love to sing. I think instead of sitting, Colin should stand and move. He should stand up and get involved with the police in San Fran in getting guns off the street. He should stand up and get involved with keeping local kids in school, which is the only way out of ignorance and poverty.

And he should stand up and sing the Anthem, remembering that the Anthem and the flag are also his parents, siblings and friends.

He should stand up and act on his convictions. Anything else is just empty gesture politics.