With a renewed nationwide discussion regarding the silent protest originally undertaken by former San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, an ever growing list of professional athletes are promising peaceful protests against systematic racism and police brutality when sports resume.
And now, that list includes Houston Texans head coach/GM Bill O’Brien.
O’Brien, who attended the funeral of George Floyd along with team owner Cal McNair and players including J.J. Watt, promised to join his players in taking a knee during the national anthem next season.
“Yeah, I’ll take a knee — I’m all for it,” O’Brien said. “The players have a right to protest, a right to be heard and a right to be who they are. They’re not taking a knee because they’re against our flag. They’re taking a knee because they haven’t been treated equally in this country for over 400 years.”
Demonstrations and protests have taken place across the country and world in the nearly three weeks since Floyd, a Minnesota man, died after having been knelt on his neck by a Minneapolis police officer for eight minutes.
The NFL also recently released a statement apologizing for their original stance on player protests.
– – Quotes via Nick Shook of NFL.com Link – –
