Marshawn Lynch — as he’s done for the duration of the NFL season — sat for the national anthem prior to the Raiders’ game against the Patriots in Mexico City.
Donald Trump is tweeting about Marshawn Lynch sitting during the U.S. national anthem
Lynch has been sitting for the U.S. national anthem all season. He stood for the Mexican anthem during the Raiders game against the Patriots in Mexico City.
However, Lynch stood for the Mexican national anthem.
Lynch initially sat for the anthem in his first preseason game back since coming out of retirement. He followed in the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, who started sitting for the anthem, before ultimately taking a knee for the duration of the 2016 season.
He was supportive of Kaepernick’s movement in an appearance on Conan in Sept. 2016:
“I’d rather see him take a knee than stand up, put his hands up, and get murdered,” Lynch said. “So, I mean, my take on it is [expletive]’s got to start somewhere, and if that was the starting point — I just hope people open up their eyes to see there’s really a problem going on, and something needs to be done for it to stop. And I mean, if you’re really not racist, then you’re going to see what he’s done, what he’s doing, [not] as a threat to America, but just addressing a problem that we have.”
Players who have taken a knee or sat during the national anthem the past two seasons have done so to protest police brutality and systemic injustices against people of color in the United States.
That’s why Lynch stood for the Mexican national anthem. He’s not a citizen of that nation, and has nothing to protest as far as what goes on within their country.
It’s similar to what the Miami Dolphins did in London against the Saints at Wembley, where players kneeled for the U.S. anthem, and stood for the British anthem.
Because this isn’t a protest of anthems or nations, it’s a protest against inequality.
Player protests have been used by the president and vice president to try and score political points with their conservative base. He tweeted about Lynch on Monday morning.
His tweet came less than 20 minutes after the Fox News Network’s Fox & Friends ran a segment about Lynch sitting during the anthem on Sunday.
Trump did not tweet about the Dolphins players standing for the British anthem and kneeling during the American one in Week 4.
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