Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, while defending San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, said he didn’t think it would spread to baseball because of demographics.
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Kaepernick was joined by teammate Eric Reid for the second times as the two kneeled side by side while two other teammates, Antoine Bethea and Eli Harold, raised their fists.
Olympics protester Carlos, now 71, praised Kaepernick, Peters and other National Football League players in a Reuters interview on Monday for using their televised platforms as professional athletes to give Americans a “shock treatment”.
With Monday Night Football being the ideal setting to get their message across, Kaepernick was able to get the attention that he was hoping to get. “This isn’t white and black, go to the VA and run your camera down there, you don’t see a black bed you don’t see a white bed you don’t see a gray bed you see a bed for every American, we’re Americans”. It will be interesting to see how this movement progresses heading into next week.
Marcus Peters of the Kansas City Chiefs, Martellus Bennett and Devin McCourty of the New England Patriots and Jason McCourty of the Tennessee Titans made similar expressions around the anthem in their respective games on Sunday.
The protests also have provoked anger in some fans who see the gesture as disrespectful to the US flag, the military and the nation in general. The exact meaning of their gestures was not clear.
President Barack Obama has weighed in on the controversy, saying Kaepernick was exercising a constitutional right and provoking conversation “around some topics that need to be talked about”. Later, four Miami Dolphins players knelt with hands on their hearts while “The Star Spangled Banner” played.
Colin Kaepernick’s national-anthem protest has officially lasted into the regular season, and ESPN treated it like the big story it has become.
Kaepernick and Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall – who protested on NFL’s opening night – both maintained that their protests were not meant to disrespect the military or to be anti-America.
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Earlier in the evening, the Washington Redskins hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers.
