United States President, Donald Trump’s demands that NFL owners lay off or suspend players kneeling or sitting during the National Anthem has met with more criticism and contempt.
Hundreds of players across America knelt while the National Anthem was being said. Some others staying back in the dressing room to express displeasure and contempt for President Trump even as some club owners join them in the campaign.
President Trump however has continued to pressure club owners to fire players who are involved in the Take a Knee Campaign to protest brutalities against minorities.
Meanwhile, the Campaign continued as Ravens Coach, John Harbaugh, together with the Hall of Famer, Ray Lewis, and Jaguar’s owner, Shahid Khan, joined their players as they folded arms during the National Anthem in Sunday’s game at the Wembley Stadium with other teams following the trail in other games.
New England CEO and a friend to President Trump, Robert Kraft, who also supported Trump’s Presidential campaign donating $1 million, has voiced his displeasure at the comments made by Mr. Trump.
“I am deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the President on Friday. I am proud to be associated with so many players who make such tremendous contributions in positively impacting our communities.
“There efforts both on and off the field, help bring people together and make our community stronger. There is no greater unifier in this country than sports and unfortunately, nothing more decisive than politics.
“I think our political leaders could learn a lot from the lessons of teamwork and the importance of working together towards a common goal. Our players are intelligent, thoughtful and care deeply about our community and I support their right to peacefully affect social change and raise awareness in a manner that they feel is most impactful”.
The situation was further worsen when the President described those who have knelt as “sons of bitches” and asked that they should be made to stand for the Anthem or be fired. This followed with rage from both NFL and NBA players as they labelled the President a “bum” and an “asshole”.
S
everal incidents of brutality and racism coupled with rampant shootings of blacks and minorities from the Police has been on the increase prompting the #takeaknee protest.
The campaign was initiated by San Francisco quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who was the first player to kneel in 2016.
Star player for the Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry, said he voted “No” to NBA champions visiting the White House, with President Trump withdrawing the invitation.
The President said in a tweet;
“Going to the White House is considered a great honour for a Championship team, Stephen Curry is hesitating, there invitation is withdrawn.”
In a statement released by the Golden State Warriors team, they accepted that they will not go to the white House but rather use their trip to Washington to “celebrate equality diversity and inclusion”.
