Donald Trump says he will not watch the NFL or the US Soccer
United States of America’s president Donald Trump says he will not watch the NFL or the US Soccer sides if players do not stand for the national anthem. This is is the in reaction to the death of 46-year-old black unarmed American George Floyd who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer.
The NFL said last week its players should be allowed to protest during the anthem, adding that it was “wrong for not listening” to players earlier. The US Soccer over-ruled a ban on players kneeling during the anthem on Thursday. The kneeling down practice was started by former NFL star Colin Kaepernick back in 2016 to highlight racial inequality.
US President Donald Trump has opposed the kneeling during the country’s national anthem and has also called on NFL players who do so to be sacked or banned. This action has raised concerns as Republican congressman Matt Gaetz criticised US Soccer’s decision on social media, and Trump responded to a news story of Gaetz’s view by saying: “I won’t be watching much any more.”
Donald Trump also said: “And it looks like the NFL is heading in that direction also, but not with me watching.” US Soccer introduced the ban in 2016 after women’s star Megan Rapinoe took a knee in solidarity with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Kaepernick. It now says its previous stance was “wrong”.
The NFL tried to ban kneeling during the anthem in May 2018 and introduced a new policy with teams fined if players failed to stand, but put the policy on hold two months later. Following Floyd’s death, NFL stars called on the league to condemn racism and commissioner Roger Goodell responded by saying the NFL had made mistakes and will now encourage players to speak out.
Donald Trump questioned Goodell’s decision to change the NFL’s stance on kneeling, saying the act would be “disrespecting our country and our flag”. All of this could be pointing to the question if the person killed was a white will he or she receive the same treatment? This is pointing to the fact that blacks are still not respected and racism is still an issue if the number citizen of the country is not in support of equal rights between the white and black.