The Seattle Seahawks have decided to protest before Sunday’s game by having every member of the team sit out the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” according to a release from the team.
Seahawks, Titans stay in locker room for national anthem; singer takes a knee
The entire team will sit
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Following President Donald Trump’s Friday night tirade on the NFL at an Alabama campaign rally for Luther Strange, the NFL has had several responses to Trump’s racist rhetoric.
Seahawks President Peter McLoughlin released a statement with the rest of high-ranking team executives and owners this weekend:
“We fully support our use of their freedom of speech and peaceful action to highlight the existing racial and other divides,” he said. “Our players completely respect the military and veterans of our country; however they believe these issues need to come to the forefront.”
Head coach Pete Carroll, also released a statement before the game. Carroll described the current moment as a polarizing time, “there’s no longer a place to sit silently,” he said. “It’s time to take a stand.”
Carroll said the team is standing for their players and rights. They are standing for love and justice and civility. And, Carroll said, they are standing against divisiveness and dehumanization.
“As a team we are united in a mission to bring people together and help create positive change,” he said. “We can no longer stay silent. I stand with our players.”
The Seahawks became another NFL team to vacate the sidelines and not participate in the anthem after the Steelers became the first team during the earlier games Sunday. The Titans also didn’t appear on the sidelines prior to the game.
The singer of the anthem also kneeled while performing the “Star Spangled Banner.” She can be seen below taking a knee.
For a team, the Seahawks, that started the era of protest in the NFL with linking arms in unity, to seeing Michael Bennett attacked by police then watching players come to his side, the Seahawks have been progressing and expanding their message of combating racial injustice.
See More:
