“Not saying I won’t, but I haven’t thought about that”, said Lane.
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The San Francisco 49ers quarterback now has the fifth-best selling jersey on NFL.com, less than a year after it was put on clearance sale.
The Seahawks host the Miami Dolphins Sunday in their opener and Lane isn’t sure what kind of reception he’ll get from the home fans.
“In terms of Mr. Kaepernick, I’ve got to confess that I haven’t been thinking about football while I’ve been over here and I haven’t been following this closely, but my understanding, at least, is that he’s exercising his Constitutional right to make a statement”, Obama said.
Kaepernick has refused to stand for the pre-game playing of the national anthem, citing racial injustice and the oppression of minorities in America. I think there are definitely some issues in America that a lot of people are starting to recognize. “It’s about people having that right to have their voice and I think it’s cool that Jeremy Lane is doing what he wants to do”.
“I don’t want to put no pressure on no one”, Lane said. “I’m doing it for me”.
Kaepernick has pledged to donate his first $1 million from his contract to charities dedicated to justice for communities in need. I think people have recognized them before but I think with social media and the things that are going out there, the media outlets, everybody has a chance to really show what is going on and their ideas and having a chance to really protest what they think is wrong with America and that’s okay, that’s what it’s about. “I’d rather have young people who are engaged in the argument and trying to think through how they can be part of our democratic process than people who are just sitting on the sidelines not paying attention at all”. At the end of the day, we’ll be football players for 12 years or 10 years or whatever it is. “And I think it’s all right”.
At a news conference in China on Monday, the president said he did not doubt Kaepernick’s sincerity in his decision not to stand for the anthem ahead of the team’s games to protest the treatment of African Americans by law enforcement authorities in USA cities.
The president added, “I don’t doubt his sincerity”.
“Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. So that’s just freedom of speech”.
Regarding Trump and Clinton, Kaepernick said both “currently represent the issue that we have in the country right now. you have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids ‘super predators.’ You have Donald Trump who’s openly racist”. The president has sought to balance his own response to the unrest and mistrust in American cities between African Americans and police officers over the past several years, including in Baton Rouge, La., and Dallas this year. It’s the white players, too.
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Kaepernick has said he will continue to sit out the national anthem until he sees improvements in U.S. race relations.
