Will Cardinals protest?
If you stand with your hand over your heart at ballgames while the national anthem plays and military planes soar overhead, God bless you.
If you don’t, God bless you, too.
But if you say it’s “wrong” to use the anthem to protest social injustice and that athletes and others who do so “should stick to sports” during events like the NFL’s showcase match-up between the Arizona Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys in Glendale on Monday night, then we have a fundamental disagreement over what it means to be an American.
This issue is in full focus as the sports world deals with the fallout from President Trump’s latest speech and Twitter barrage that called on team owners to respond to any kneeling player by getting “that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired.”
Athletes responded almost immediately, led by the NBA’s LeBron James, who called the president a “bum” and later said that sports bring people together and that Trump was wrong “to try to use this platform to divide us even more.”
On Sunday, teams across the NFL staged demonstrations before their games. Some stood with locked arms during the anthem. Some stayed in their locker rooms. One of those was the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had one player -- offensive lineman Alejandro Villanueva, a former Army Ranger -- that came out and stood alone.
It’s not immediately clear how the Cardinals or Cowboys planned to respond during "Monday Night Football."
Cardinals defensive lineman and NFL Players Association team representative Frostee Rucker said players must “stay together” to “show compassion and love.” Several players, including Rucker, said without elaborating that whatever the team does, they’ll do it together.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has said he doesn’t think the anthem should be used for protests.
The team hasn’t had a player make such a demonstration amid the growing wave that started last year with Colin Kaepernick.
After consulting with military veterans, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback started kneeling during the anthem last season to draw attention to heavy-handed police practices in minority communities that led to the deaths of unarmed black men and triggered protests around the nation, some of which I covered as a correspondent for The Associated Press.
As someone who was on the street in the middle of the night as people marched, screamed and lit fires, I can say that it was jarring and frightening. It didn’t feel like my country.
It will be the second time in as many months the Valley will deal with the aftermath of Trump’s blunt remarks. The president appeared at a rally in downtown Phoenix Aug. 22 shortly after blaming hatred, bigotry and violence on “many sides” when a white nationalist protest turned to chaos in Charlottesville, Va.
The Phoenix rally generated a counter-protest that ended with police dispersing the crowd with tear gas.
In each instance, Trump’s remarks have come during key moments for his political agenda. The Phoenix rally came days before he pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had been convicted of racially profiling Latinos during traffic sweeps.
It was also a tense time in the debate over what to do about President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to kill the immigration policy, which allows some immigrants to receive work permits and other benefits. Trump wants to end the policy, but has given Congress six months to come up with a compromise.
This time, the issue at hand is opposition from Sen. John McCain and others that seems likely to thwart the president’s latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Phoenix professional sports teams, meanwhile, all sent statements in response to requests seeking comment about the current climate enveloping sports and the president.
Diamondbacks Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick responded first: “I am very proud that we have an opportunity before each game to honor our country with the playing of the national anthem, as it has a deep, personal meaning to me, as I would hope it does for all of our players. I also respect that each of them has his own beliefs and opinions, and I would hope we all recognize that when we wear the D-Backs uniform, we are representing this franchise — something our players have done with great class and dignity for many years.”
The Suns organization said: “We have always taken great pride in being a community leader by valuing equality, embracing inclusion and celebrating diversity. As such, we support the right to constructively address issues that affect our communities and feel it’s important to create an environment that encourages positive dialogue.”
Coyotes owner Andrew Barroway said he stands by his previous statement, issued ahead of the Trump rally last month, that the “Arizona Coyotes are proud to support the ideals of inclusivity and acceptance. We are committed to the belief that hockey can drive positive social change and foster more inclusive communities. We believe #HockeyIsForEveryone and are glad that the Coyotes can bring people together.”
And Cardinals President Michael Bidwill said: “I am extremely proud of our players and the contributions they make that extend well beyond the playing field. There are countless examples of the positive influence and extraordinary impact these players have on our community. Football is something that has always united us as Americans and, particularly in times like these, has the ability to inspire rather than divide. It’s a responsibility in which we have always taken great pride and will continue to embrace.”
The NFL, for its part, released a statement on Trump’s comments, saying: “Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.”
The criticisms echoed comments from political experts who are saying that presidents have traditionally worked to create a sense of calm and unity during difficult moments and that Trump’s comments have done neither.
For me, all the talk of unity and inclusion has been nice, but it’s felt a bit Pollyannish.
If everyone is so unified, why doesn’t Kaepernick have a job?
And why isn’t anyone talking about the latest protests over a police shooting in St. Louis? Or 15-year-old Ruben Urbina, shot dead by police in Haymarket, Va.?
In each case, authorities say the shootings were justified. And in each case, the people served by that system say something else.
Isn’t that the real divide here? Isn’t that what we’re all supposed to be talking about?