Then later, he modified his sitting position, by taking a knee while the Star-Spangled Banner is played before any Forty-Niners' games. Dressed in his bright red and muted gold NFL uniform and sporting a 1970's style full Afro, Kaepernick's very visible protest is against what he considers systemic racism plaguing the United States, as highlighted by the growing trend of African American males being killed by mostly white police officers.

Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee in 1987, and, like, President Barack Obama, he was born to a white mother and a black father. For four years, the Wisconsin toddler was raised in Packerland and then moved with his affluent, adoptive white parents to Turlock, California -- Forty-Niner country.

The 28-year-old's protest has spread like the California wildfires which scare the Golden State's landscape. Not only are pro football players taking the knee at the first sound of the National Anthem, but some players are also raising their fists in defiance as Tommie Smith and John Carlos did at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

Originally, what is now known as The Star-Spangled Banner, was a poem entitled "Defence of Fort M'Henry", penned by Francis Scott Key, on Sept. 14, 1814, after he saw a tattered, torn and bomb-scarred 15 stars and 15 stripes garrison flag still flying, following the nightlong British bombardment of Ft. McHenry, Maryland, during the height of the War of 1812.

Then that hastily written poem was set to music to a tune called "To Anacreon in Heaven", written by British composer, John Stafford Smith. "The Anacreontic Song" was the official hymn of the Anacreontic Society, which was a late18th century musicians' gentlemen's club in England. The combination of Scott's19th century poem and Smith's 18th century melody, created what is now called "The Star-Spangled Banner", which quickly became a national patriotic song along with "Hail, Columbia", "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", and "America the Beautiful".

In 1931, the century-old "Star-Spangled Banner" was officially made America's National Anthem. Although "The Star-Spangled Banner" has four stanzas, usually it is only the first verse that most people know by heart and sing as the National Anthem, including at the beginning of sporting events.

THE KAEPERNICK EFFECT

What is now being called the Kaepernick Effect -- taking a knee, raising clinched fists, or locking arms -- has spread to players of other NFL teams including Seahawks ... Dolphins ... Chiefs ... Chargers ... Patriots ... Rams ... Eagles ... Texans ... The visible demonstrations of defiance have filtered down to amateur ball, on to college and high school campuses, then across athletic disciplines to soccer and volleyball. Entire Pop Warner teams (including six-year-olds) have taken the knee in youthful imitation of the pros. Even several US military personnel have refused to stand and salute the flag while in uniform.

For the most part, it is not expected that the polarizing protest about racial inequality will spread to baseball because baseball is more or less considered to be a "white man's sport," or so says Adam Jones, the black center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles.

Now the fast moving, polarizing National Anthem protest is even invading the church, and leading the charge is the V. Rev. Will Mebane, the interim dean of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo, New York. Dean Mebane showed up at last Sunday's Service of Holy Communion wearing a red San Francisco 49er football jersey embossed with a white numeral 7 -- Kaepernick's number.

In slow, measured speech, Dean Mebane prefaced: "It is out of concern for our nation, and frankly for our souls, that I have chosen to wear this jersey today."

He said that the wearing of Kaepernick's jersey number was his way of getting his congregation to think about the "killing, by police, of black women and men in our nation"... his way of supporting the 49er's efforts to spark a national debate on racism and abuse of power.

However, he was quick to explain what the wearing of the jersey did not mean.

"I am not antipolice, nor am I antimilitary," he explained. "I am not wearing the jersey of Colin Kaepernick because I am antiAmerican."

In fact, Dean Mebane thinks that the 'Niner's quarterback needs to be celebrated because what he has done "represents the best of the ideals of upon which this nation was founded."

The black dean said he was wearing the bright red jersey as a sign of support for and solidarity with the football player's "prophetic message," and he is horrified by the sight of blacks being killed "with seeming impunity" by police officers as those events are replayed on his TV screen.

He said that since the first of January up until the time of his Sept. 25th Mass started, a total 194 blacks had been killed by American law enforcement officers "who are sworn to protect and serve." Since his Mass. several more have died in the streets.

The interim dean said that he struggled about wearing the football jersey because he was concerned that he might cause offence.

"I was concerned that some of you might feel offended in some way, that you might tune me out, or take the drastic step of 'never again returning to St. Paul's Cathedral as long as he's there'," he said in his politically-charged oration. "I'm here to afflict some discomfort on anyone that's comfortable today -- comfortable with what's happening in our nation."

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL

Episcopal ministry in Buffalo dates to 1802, and to the missionary work of the Rev. Davenport Phelps. In 1817, St. Paul's Episcopal Church was organized by the Rev. Samuel Johnston with 20 families. The young congregation struggled until the Erie Canal was opened in 1825. As the church continued to grow, plans were made to build a more permanent structure than what they currently had.

In 1848, St. Paul's engaged Richard Upjohn to draw up plans to build the new church on a triangle of land in the heart of Buffalo. The British architect had become noted for his churches, including newly completed Trinity on Wall Street in New York. When the Buffalo church was completed, it was the considered the "finest house of worship in the state outside of New York City."

Construction on the new St. Paul's started in 1849, and it was dedicated in 1851. The spires were completed in 1870. In 1866, the church was raised to cathedral status. In 1888, a massive natural gas explosion and fire almost leveled the cathedral and, since the original architect had died 10 years before, the rebuilding and renovations were overseen by Robert W. Gibson. The Gothic Revival church is built to accommodate an Anglo-Catholic style of worship.

The latest TEC 2015 stats for St. Paul's shows that the cathedral's congregation is declining in baptized membership, ASA, and Plate & Pledge figures. The 2015 bar graph shows the Buffalo cathedral has a baptized congregation of about 175, of which 150 show up on Sunday and who kick more than $250,000 into the collection plate. The cathedral celebrates three Masses on a Sunday and has daily, weekday noon Services of Holy Communion.

Dean Mebane has a previous background in commercial radio and television, which explains his measured method of preaching. He even worked at WKBW-Channel 7 in Buffalo before pursuing the priesthood at the age of 50. He went back to college and earned a M. Div from Yale Divinity School and a certificate in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He was ordained a priest in 2010.

EPISCOPAL SOCIAL JUSTICE

The black interim dean has always had a strong interest in social justice and it was his peaked interest in social justice which originally lead the black teenager to The Episcopal Church.

Last year, Buffalo's cathedral dean brought the thought-provoking statue, "The Homeless Jesus", to Buffalo, for permanent display in St. Paul's Cathedral Park, a place where Buffalo's homeless tend to gather.

"The homeless will be sleeping with Jesus and Jesus will be sleeping with the homeless in Cathedral Park," the Dean told WKBW News at the time. "It's a powerful message to convey." And he conveyed that message during Holy Week last year when the cold and sleeping Jesus statue was unveiled.

While at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, Canon Mebane was deeply involved in Episcopal social justice issues. He is a member of the Union of Black Episcopalians and chaired the board of directors for Ohioans to Stop Executions. He is also a member of the board of trustees of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University (his alma mater) and is a member of the Congo Network Group of the Episcopal Church. Before Katharine Jefferts Schori stepped down as presiding bishop, the then Cleveland canon was tapped for the Task Force on the Study of Marriage.

Dean Mebane lays the problem of blacks being killed by mostly white police officers at the feet of white supremacy infiltration into American law enforcement, stating that the FBI revealed that information ten years ago in 2006.

"Yeah, you heard me right," he told St. Paul's Sunday congregation. "White supremacists in the United States have been intentionally becoming police officers."

As a black man, the cathedral dean says that he has to worry every time he is approached by a police officer, as to whether or not he will survive the encounter alive and in one piece.

"Most of you probably feel little or no threat -- at least to your lives -- when you encounter a police officer" he explained. "What I start to think is 'don't do anything that might make her shoot you'."

He said that as black men, both he and his two adult sons have to worry about their very lives when encountering law enforcement officers for any reason. Something, he said, they have had to do their entire lives.

"It matters not that my son and I have masters' degrees from Yale University, it means nothing in a situation like that, " he continued. "It means nothing that I am a priest or the dean of a cathedral. The fact that I have been a law abiding citizen all my life means nothing in that moment, in that situation when a police officer approaches my vehicle."

OUTRAGE!

The only time Dean Mebane changed the paced, measured modulation of his voice was when he said he voiced outrage about the outrage over Kaepernick's actions which unleashed an avalanche of emotion for simply exercising his constitutional right of free speech, even if it is visible rather than vocal.

"This really gets me," he said in his politically-laced sermon. "This is really at the crux of things for me. There seems to be more public outrage about a black man kneeling instead of standing for the National Anthem then there is outrage about the number of black women and men being killed by members of our police forces."

The raising his voice he emphasized: "Where is outrage about that!"

"God sent prophets of old, and God sends prophets today," the cathedral dean preached. "Prophets like Colin Kaepernick to awakened us ... to wake us up before it's too late."

Citing the second half of the Great Commandant to love our neighbor, Dean Mebane said that: "Jesus commands us to care for our black sisters ... our black brothers that are being killed by some members of our police forces ..."

He said that this happens because either the police officers are openly racist or they have not been inadequately or insufficiently trained to effectively carry out their law enforcement duties.

"If we fail to respond to their pleas -- to the pleas of our black brothers and sisters -- if we fail to respond to their pleas for protection and justice, we risk being sentenced just like the rich man to a life of eternal damnation," Dean Mebane said in an impassioned voice. "And then it will be too late ..."

In concluding the 18-minute sermon based on Amos 6 and Luke 16, the black cathedral dean said: "At least on this day you have been warned. May God have mercy on all of our souls."

His sermon was met with some sporadic applause.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline