Why Kapler has stopped kneeling during national anthem
SAOTTSBALC, ARIZ. >> When the Giants played their first exhibition game of the summer at the Oakland Coliseum last year, manager Gabe Kapler and several of the team’s players elected to kneel during the playing of the national anthem.
“I told (the team) that I wanted to use my platform to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the way we’ve handled racism in our country,” Kapler said at the time. “I wanted to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with our clear systemic racism in our country and I wanted them to know that they got to make their own decisions and we would respect and support those decisions.”
Kapler took a knee as the national anthem played before each game last season, but he chose not to do so before the Giants’ Cactus League opener on Sunday at Scottsdale Stadium.
“Our country and our dialogue has changed, and with that change, I think it’s important that my actions change, too,” Kapler said following a 5-2 loss to the Angels. “So I stood today because I believe the stories shouldn’t be about me and about what I’m doing during the anthem. They should be about the people in our country who are hurt by these systems, and about the work being done to bring about positive change.”
Since first choosing to take a knee, Kapler has emphasized the importance of taking “action steps” to address social injustice and inequalities. The Giants’ second-year manager recently founded the Pipeline For Change Foundation, which is “a California based nonprofit organization that was created to provide resources and remove obstacles for BIPOC, women, non-binary people and members of the LGBTQ+ community to participate in all aspects of collegiate and professional sports.”
Kapler referenced his foundation, which is led by executive director Stephanie St Amour, in discussing his decision to stand for the anthem on Sunday.
“Different times will call for different actions, and now my actions are focused on work like Pipeline For Change, and the efforts by others to bring about the needed progress in our society,” Kapler said. “So summing it up: I want the stories to be written about the work being done to change what’s wrong, not about whether I’m kneeling or not. And I’m doing that by working to make changes to systems and institutions through my foundation.”
Kapler said Giants players and coaches had several pregame discussions Sunday and pointed out that he believes every player and staff member feels “100%” supported if they choose to kneel for the anthem in the future. No Giants players took a knee on Sunday, but only about half of the 70-plus players in camp were on the field before the team’s first spring training game.