Minnesota Vikings guard Alex Boone expresses his disappointment over Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the singing of the national anthem.

In an interview with USA TODAY Sports, Boone relates his emotional reaction when former teammate Kaepernick decided to sit for the national anthem.

“It’s hard for me, because my brother was a Marine, and he lost a lot of friends over there.”

“That flag obviously gives him the right to do whatever he wants. I understand it. At the same time, you should have some respect for people who served, especially people that lost their life to protect our freedom,” added Boone.

To recall, Boone and Kaepernick were teammates for the past five seasons. Boone stated that conflicts will arise when asked how he would have managed the circumstance if he is still with the 49ers.

“See, I’m a very emotional person. So, I think if I had known that, my emotions would’ve been rolling — I think we would’ve had a problem on the sideline.

Colin Kaepernick stirs headlines when he affirmed his stance about offenses made to African Americans.

On Friday, the San Francisco Forty-Niners quarterback explained to NFL the reason for his snubbing of the national anthem.

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.  To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."

Kaepernick’s joins other athletes, like NBA's Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in using their status to fight for racial discrimination and to uphold the welfare of the minorities in the United States.