Lance Kendricks says Puerto Rico response led him to sit for national anthem

Packers tight end Lance Kendricks comes from a military family, and he never saw himself sitting for the national anthem. But Kendricks’ wife, Danielle, is from Puerto Rico. President Donald Trump’s response to the devastation in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria convinced Kendricks to take a seat.

It wasn’t just Trump’s response — or lack thereof — to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico. It was the fact that the president used his platform to critique players who protest during the national anthem instead of acknowledging Puerto Rico that spurred Kendricks to action.

“That broke the camel’s back,” Kendricks told USA Today’s Ryan Wood.

Danielle Kendricks has about 100 family members living in Puerto Rico. She still hasn’t heard from many of them. She didn’t hear from her 82-year-old grandfather, who had been hospitalized after the storm, for 10 days.

“You think about the fact that he’s just one person,” Danielle said, “and you have 3.4 million people on this island. It’s really devastating, because people don’t have access to basic needs: water, cash. The power is out, so everything they had in their fridge, they can’t eat anything.”

Some things matter more than football. That’s why players are willing to take the criticism that comes with protesting during the national anthem. Kendricks wishes that fans would try to understand the meaning behind the movement.

“As a diehard fan,” Kendricks said, “you might want to at least try to understand or do some research into it, and be like, ‘OK, I understand why he did what he did.’ As opposed to just automatically being like, ‘No, eff you guys. That was stupid. Stand up.’

“I was one of those people who was like, ‘I understand why he’s doing it, but I wouldn’t do it.’ That’s how I felt about it.”

The Packers had a team meeting about the protests, and head coach Mike McCarthy opened the floor for players to share their perspectives. Aaron Rodgers told his teammates that they needed to support each other, even if they don’t agree. Martellus Bennett talked about being a black man in America, which helped white teammates understand the racial inequality and oppression that prompted Colin Kaepernick to begin protesting during the national anthem during the 2016 preseason.

And when Kendricks did decide to sit for the anthem, it was partly because he saw Bennett sitting by himself.

“It’s hard to stand for something when you’re standing by yourself,” Bennett said. “It’s easy to stand for something when there’s a group of guys doing it, but when you believe in something so strongly that you’re willing to go out there and stand by yourself, it’s totally different.”

Kendricks had never considered protesting during the anthem before, and he said he’ll stand in the future. Even as he stands, he won’t forget Trump’s lukewarm response to Puerto Rico.