KNEE THE PEOPLE
200 NFL’ers in anthem protest to defy Trump
NFL players yesterday “fired’’ back at President Trump’s call that they be axed for kneeling during the national anthem, with more than 200 grid de rs—some joined by owners who have backed Trump — taking a knee during“The StarSpangled Banner.”
More than 200 NFL players defiantly took a knee during the national anthem at their games on Sunday, while hundreds of other grid stars locked arms with their coaches — and even some team owners — in protest of President Trump’s blasts at them over the weekend.
Three New York Giants — Landon Collins, Damon Harrison and Olivier Vernon — were among those who knelt on the field, a first for Big Blue players in the ongoing controversy over the symbolic opposition to racism.
“I’ve been raised the right way. I know what’s right and what’s wrong. Ain’t nobody ever going to scare me. I don’t care if he’s the president or not. You ain’t my president,” Vernon said of Trump after the Giants’ lost to the Eagles in Philadelphia.
Trump had first created an uproar during a speech in Alabama on Friday in which he urged NFL team owners to fire any player who kneels during the anthem.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’ ” the president said.
He continued his attacks league throughout Sunday, suggesting in one tweet that fans boycott NFL games “until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country.’’
Collins defended his and other players’ decision to kneel.
“There’s nothing that we’re saying we disrespect our country,” he said. “It hurt me to take a knee. I was about to break down in tears. I love this country.
“But at the same time, we respect each other, and we have a family over here, and we’re gonna fight for each other.”
TV networks took the unusual step of broadcasting the singing of “The StarSpangled Banner” before the games in anticipation of the protests, which took place at all but one of the 14 games on Sunday. Among the examples:
Giants’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. raised his fist in a “black power” salute after scoring his second touchdown.
The entire New York Jets team linked arms along with acting owner Christopher Johnson, who later issued a statement expressing pride in the players’ “positive, constructive and unifying impact.”
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady — who supported Trump ahead of last year’s presidential election — stood with his right hand over his heart and his left arm entwined with teammate Phillip Dorsett’s.
Cleveland Browns players launched the largest take-a-knee protest, with 21 of 53 players joining in, after team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam issued a statement blasting Trump’s statements as “divisive,” “misguided” and “uninformed.”
Members of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens who knelt during the US anthem before their game in London rose for Britain’s, “God Save the Queen.”
There were reports of some booing inside stadiums where players took a knee, with some fans chanting, “Stand up!” ahead of the Patriots game against the Houston Texans in Foxborough, Mass.
The protests also spread to Game 1 of the WNBA finals, with the Los Angeles Sparks leaving the court to skip the anthem, while the home team Minnesota Lynx locked
arms along the free-throw line in front of their bench.
Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell also took a knee for the second game in a row and said he would continue doing so.
Meanwhile, three football teams — the Seattle Seahawks, their opponents, the Tennessee Titans, and the Pittsburgh Steelers — stayed in their locker rooms. The Steelers’ coach said it was to avoid politics, while the other two teams said it was to make a protest statement.
The Oakland Raiders almost became the fourth team to stay in the locker room on Sunday night, but ultimately chose not to do so, due to time constraints.
Most of the Raiders instead chose to sit or take a knee during the anthem — with some calling it the largest of all the protests on Sunday by any one team. Their opponents, the Washington Redskins, mostly stood, but linked arms with owner Daniel Snyder.
The NFL demonstrations began last year with then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during a preseason game.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in August 2016.
Trump’s remarks dominated football’s pregame shows Sunday.
Former Buffalo Bills and New York Jets coach Rex Ryan said, “I’m pissed off, I’ll be honest with you, because I supported Donald Trump.
“But I’m reading these comments, and it’s appalling to me, and I’m sure it’s appalling to almost any citizen in our country. It should be,” he said on ESPN.
Former Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw sounded a different tone on “Fox NFL Sunday,” disagreeing with the protests but adding:
“If our country stands for anything, folks — what — it’s freedom. People die for that freedom. I’m not sure if our president understands those rights, that every American has the right to speak out and also to protest.”
Former Raiders star Howie Long said white NFL players had a special obligation to their AfricanAmerican teammates.
“What keeps getting lost is the message of inequality,” the Fox analyst said. “In a league comprised of nearly 70 percent AfricanAmerican players, if you’re a white player in an NFL locker room, you are in a unique position to better understand the struggles and subsequently support your teammates in your own way.”
Former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and “Sunday Night Football” host Cris Collinsworth called for Trump to apologize for referring to NFL players who kneel as “sons of bitches.”
“They’re not SOBs — they’re smart, thoughtful guys,” Collinsworth said. “I think an apology for the SOB comment would go a long way.”
Early Sunday evening, Trump denied that he was inflaming racial tensions before boarding Air Force One for a return trip to the White House from his golf club in Bedminster, NJ.
“This has nothing to do with race. I never said anything about race,” he told reporters at Morristown Municipal Airport.
“This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag.”
When asked if he thought the players who knelt Sunday should be fired, Trump said, “I certainly think the owners should do something about it.”
Trump — who had come under attack Saturday by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for his “divisive” comments — tweeted earlier in the day, “Courageous Patriots have fought and died for our great American Flag --- we MUST honor and respect it! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Editorial
‘Sound and fury, signifying nothing”: That’s where the National Anthemknee wars stand after President Trump kicked them into high gear. Every side has plenty of fair and important points to make, but the noise and confusion is sure to drown them out. Nor is there any resolution to the whole affair that will actually resolve anything that matters.
The NFL settled on its let-’em-protest policy long before Trump weighed in, and it’s not going to change now. The president voiced the take of many football fans, but he also guaranteed a whole lot more kneeling.
But it also muddles an already-blurry message. At this point, it’s not even clear what any given kneeler is trying to say: Is it a statement about racism in policing, racism in general, a rebuke to Trump, solidarity with other players?
The Steelers may have come up with the best response by staying off the field for the Anthem altogether, though the teams where all players embraced are also sending pretty clear “we won’t be divided” message.
Our sense is that passions were fading before Trump jumped in. Some players were making their statement, but symbolic consciousness-raising is rather a dead end: What, after all, has to change to justify standing back up?
But outrage over the protest is also pointless, even if you think it is unpatriotic to use the National Anthem this way: Screaming about it only encourages it, as Trump is proving.
In any case, the nation has far bigger fish to fry. As another guy from Queens noted over the weekend, this debate is “irrelevant or at least secondary to a conversation like what’s going on with Puerto Rico right now, where people are suffering, people may be dying. You want to use the power of the White House? Use the power of the White House to help Americans in need, now.”
We’re with Gov. Cuomo on this one.