The question was asked at a town hall in Houston earlier this month. Now it’s going viral. Watch below, everyone is pretty thrilled there’s a different take on the protests.
‘I can think of nothing more American.’ — Beto O'Rourke — the man taking on Ted Cruz — brilliantly explains why NFL players kneeling during the anthem is not disrespectful pic.twitter.com/bEqOAYpxEL
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 21, 2018
“Here’s my longer answer, but I’m going to try to make sure I make that I get this right because I think it’s a really important question. And reasonable people can disagree on this issue, let’s begin there. And it makes them no less American to come down on a different conclusion on this issue, right? You can feel as the young man [who asked the question] does, you can feel as I do, you’re every bit as American, all the same.
“But I’m reminded – someone mentioned reading the Taylor Branch book … ‘Parting the Waters: [America] in the King Years’. And when you read that book and find out what Dr. King and this non-violent, peaceful movement to secure better – ’cause they didn’t get full – civil rights for their fellow Americans, the challenges that they face.
“Those who died in Philadelphia, Mississippi, for the crime of trying to be a man, trying to be a woman in this country, the young girls who died in the church bombing. Those who were beaten within an inch of their life crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama with John Lewis, those were punched in the face, spat on, dragged out by their collar at the Woolworth lunch counter for sitting with white people at that same lunch counter in the same country where their fathers may have bled the same blood on the battlefields of Omaha Beach or Okinawa or anywhere that anyone ever served this country.
“The freedoms we have were purchased not just by those in uniform, and they definitely were. But also by those who took their lives into their hands riding those Greyhound buses, the Freedom Riders in the Deep South in the 1960s who knew full well that they would be arrested, and they were, serving time in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. Rosa Parks, getting from the back of the bus to the front of the bus.
“Peaceful non-violent protests including taking a knee at a football game to point out that black men, unarmed, black teenagers, unarmed and black children, unarmed, are being killed at a frightening level right now including by members of law enforcement without accountability and without justice. And this problem – as grave as it is – is not going to fix itself. And they’re frustrated, frankly, with people like me and those in positions of public trust and power, who have been unable to resolve this or bring justice for what has been done and to stop it from continuing to happen in this country. So non-violent, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it.”
Some NFL Players shared their thoughts about the speech.
We need more of our fellow white brothers and sisters to stand up with us or take a knee or however you want to PEACEFULLY PROTEST in this fight for EQUALITY! ✊?✊? https://t.co/JEogy5hDpJ
— Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush) August 22, 2018
Every past & present fan of NFL – please listen – I believe he hit the nail on the head & he did so not by dividing the 2 sides but by joining them together in realizing the freedoms of our country have been forged by soldiers but also by many others who have fought in diff ways! https://t.co/zDxYgMAmAz
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) August 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/TorreySmithWR/status/1032231447946567681
One day we’ll get back to talking about football, I hope. This Anthem nonsense has dominated the news cycle for far too long. I thought we watch football for the bone crushing hits, and amazing TD celebrations, not the fricking Anthem. Let’s move on people.