Politics

San Fran QB sits during National Anthem, BLM’s DeRay McKesson approves

Colin Kaepernick National Anthem, BLM, McKesson
Colin Kaepernick – Wikimedia Commons

On Saturday, the NFL reported that  San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sparked controversy when he refused to stand for the playing of the national anthem to protest what he thinks are wrongdoings against blacks and minorities in the United States.  Twitchy followed that report with an observation that Black Lives Matter activist and Baltimore City School System adviser DeRay McKesson gave his nod of approval.

According to the NFL report:

His latest refusal to stand for the anthem — he has done this in at least one other preseason game — came before the 49ers’ preseason loss to Green Bay at Levi’s Stadium on Friday night.

“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 an exclusive interview after the game. “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.”

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The 49ers issued a statement about Kaepernick’s decision: “The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem.”

His refusal to stand caused a lot of criticism on Twitter, but not from McKesson:

Of course, that caused both McKesson and Kaepernick to come under fire:

https://twitter.com/MikeRoySF/status/769556344403886080

https://twitter.com/Alex__Katz/status/769557143393538048

https://twitter.com/rjbigelow/status/769559034298966016

Good question.

Yeah, but who needs things like facts?

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Joe Newby

A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe ran for a city council position in Riverside, Calif., in 1991 and managed successful campaigns for the Idaho state legislature. Co-author of "Banned: How Facebook enables militant Islamic jihad," Joe wrote for Examiner.com from 2010 until it closed in 2016 and his work has been published at Newsbusters, Spokane Faith and Values and other sites. He now runs the Conservative Firing Line.

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