Sports as a whole have only just come back in the United States amid the pandemic and massive outbreak that’s really still raging just in America, and Donald Trump already has his feelings hurt.
In one of the first Major League Baseball games to take place since the entire nation was shut down due to Trump’s botched response to the coronavirus, the manager of the San Francisco Giants, Gabe Kapler, took a knee in protest of police brutality during the playing of the National Anthem, along with several other members of the team and staff, and unsurprisingly, Donald Trump found himself rather upset, rather quickly.
“Looking forward to live sports,” Trump wrote on his Twitter this morning. “but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!”
Looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2020
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Kapler and the team’s demonstration was the first to take place by a member of MLB since September of 2017 when Bruce Maxwell followed suit with Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players and professional athletes and took a knee to protest racial injustices and police brutality.
As the entire nation rises up from coast to coast against the recent killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and televised sports start to return, it’s safe to say that athletes will once again be picking up their means of protest. An additional layer of subliminal messaging against Trump seems to be on the docket as Dr. Anthony Fauci is slated to throw the ceremonial first pitch during the opener between the Washington Nationals and New York Yankees later this week.
Kapler is in his first year as the manager of the MLB team and appears to be the first of his kind in the four major sports in this nation to take such a bold move. Kapler made his intentions clear to his team and staff before his demonstration and ensured that he would support each individual’s decision.
“I wanted them to know that I wasn’t pleased with the way our country has handled police brutality,” he explained to reporters on the heels of the game. “I told them that I wanted to amplify their voices and I wanted to amplify the voice of the Black community, and marginalized communities as well.”
“And so I told them I wanted to use my platform to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the way we’ve handled racism in our country. I wanted to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with our clear systemic racism in our country,” he continued. “I wanted them to know they’ve got to make their own decisions. And we would respect and support those decisions. I wanted them to feel safe in speaking up. We’ve had these discussions the last several days and we will continue to have them.”
In addition to Kapler, outfielders Jaylin Davis, Mike Yastrzemski, and Austin Slater also took a knee as well as first base coach Antoan Richardson. Shortstop Brandon Crawford appeared to show his solidarity for the demonstration by placing his hands on the shoulders of Davis and Richardson as he stood behind them.
As Trump will almost assuredly continue to fume over this for the coming weeks, my suggestion is that he takes this as a clear indicator that America isn’t backing down. Not on the streets, not on football fields or baseball fields, and not when we cast our votes.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
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