‘I’d make ’em stand up’
Conversation on freedom of speech vs. respecting the U.S. spreads to high school football fields
Isaiah Fordham, a 200-pound defensive end and running back on Santa Fe High School’s football team, didn’t need a second to answer the question. “I would never sit or kneel during the national anthem,” said the senior, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather all served in the military. And if one of his teammates did? “I’d make ’em stand up,” Fordham said. High school athletes like Fordham may be light years away from the controversy engulfing NFL stadiums as professional athletes and President Donald Trump spar over how freedom of speech and respect for the American flag collide. But after this weekend’s demonstrations during NFL games — when many players locked arms or kneeled in silent protest during the playing of the national anthem — it is a conversation being held all over the country. Including on a high school practice field. So far, there is scattered evidence that the practice could spread to school campuses. After former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the playing of the anthem during a game in August 2016 to protest police treatment of African-Americans, similar actions took place during high school games in Aurora, Colo., Seattle and Madison, Wis. And earlier this month, some 8-year-old students playing in a youth league football game in Cahokia, Ill., drew national attention when they knelt with their coaches during the playing of the national anthem.
But for the most part, from Santa Fe to Santa Rosa to San Diego, the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” has merely been a familiar sound that signaled the start of another high school contest.
Now, with the controversy blazing throughout the country, fanned by the weekend’s NFL games, even high school kids aren’t so sure. On the field at Santa Fe High, Fordham and some of his teammates said they fear the discord could spread from the professional arena to the high school stadium.
Demons sophomore Trent Jones said the actions of the professional athletes around
the country are closely watched by their younger fans. “Everyone looks up to those NFL guys,” Jones said. “So their actions might impact some of those people if they knew their teammates had their back.”
Jones said that while he would never kneel during the anthem, he would support a teammate who chose to do so.
And senior Raul Garcia — who said one of his teachers engaged the class in a discussion of the NFL players’ actions on Monday — voiced a more forgiving tone.
“If you feel you should take the knee, then take the knee,” he said. “It’s about freedom of speech.”
Andrew Martinez, the Demons’ head coach, agreed. He said it is a student’s prerogative to protest in the way he or she feels. “I would not hinder their right to do so,” he said.
Elsewhere around Santa Fe and the surrounding region, coaches held a variety of views.
Joey Fernandez, football coach at St. Michael’s High School said Monday he had not yet heard any of his students talking about the NFL protests. But, he said, “I do expect them to respect the American flag, respect all the people who have worked to give us the freedom that we have. I would expect them to stand and respect the flag.”
For Ira Harge Jr., an African-American who coaches the Pecos High School basketball team, it’s not so easy to formulate a response. He still recalls, with sadness in his voice, local reaction to Kaepernick’s actions last year.
“A lot of people in Pecos have relatives in the military and a lot of them thought he [Kaepernick] should stand, and some of them said, ‘It’s his right to express freedom of speech,’ ” Harge said. “The players at school were all over the
board about it. I haven’t talked to them since what happened Sunday so I don’t know yet how they will react to this past weekend.”
There are no rules in either the New Mexico Athletic Association guidelines or in Santa Fe Public Schools student code of conduct that would prohibit a player on a public school team from kneeling during the anthem.
School board president Lorraine Price — an African-American who recalled refusing to take part in the Pledge of Allegiance in school to protest the Vietnam War in the 1960s — said she would support any student who chose to follow Kaepernick’s lead.
“If our kids do not want to stand or they want to kneel, more power to them,” she said. “I understand and appreciate their exercise of their First Amendment rights. … that is one of the things that has made us a great country.”
School board member Steven Carrillo, who attends many high school sports events, said he would welcome such silent protests on the field.
“I think it would be wonderful if it spread to high schools and colleges around the nation,” he said. “It’s an issue about the treatment of minorities and African-Americans around the country. It is not about dishonoring the flag.”
Most pundits agree that the recent wave of actions on behalf of athletes in the country began when Kaepernick first knelt last August.
“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 said at the time. “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.”
Harge said he understands the reasons behind it all, but he still holds mixed views.
“What hurts me the most is that people say it represents a division [to protest],” he said. “But it still seems like a division no matter what. It hurts my heart, being an American — and an African-American on top of that.
“I understand why they are protesting. But to be honest, it’s kind of painful.”