A mostly white audience jeered as a group of black Saint Michael’s College basketball players took a knee Saturday for the national anthem before an exhibition game with the University of Vermont.
Spectators shouted “stand up” and loudly booed as half a dozen athletes kneeled as the song played. The protest mimics that carried out by National Football League players who have sought to bring attention to racial injustice and oppression of black Americans by refusing to stand during the anthem. No UVM players appeared to kneel.
Not everyone in the crowd at UVM’s Patrick Gym was critical, video footage from the scene shows. Some audience members clapped as the players kneeled, and yelled out in support of their right to protest. St. Michael’s basketball coach Josh Meyer, who is white, took a knee, as did at least two other members of the coaching staff.
At least one black St. Michael’s player remained standing.
The negative crowd reaction “really pained” a black UVM basketball player, who tweeted about the incident after the game.
“140 characters isn’t enough to do this issue justice but just know I wasn’t the only one who heard it and this is far from over,” Skyler Nash wrote Saturday. “We’ll be back November 22nd just wait on it…”
Around the country, “taking a knee” has become a powerful and controversial protest movement. Some football fans have cheered athletes for bringing attention to racism, while others see the refusal to stand during the anthem as disrespectful and unpatriotic. President Donald Trump has urged NFL owners to fire players who don’t stand for the anthem.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the movement in 2016 to protest racial injustice. The demonstration has since spread to teams throughout the league, especially in light of Trump’s comments in September. The trend has gained ground with players on some college and high school teams around the country.
Meyer, the St. Michael’s coach, did not immediately return a message seeking comment, nor did the college athletic director, Chris Kenny.
Here’s the footage:
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Rick batistoni’s comment is incredibly reactionary. If anyone is engaging in ‘macro-agressions’ it is the police who keep killing people.
So is Rick Batistoni saying that his son’s life and the national anthem are far more important than the lives of the Black and Brown folks these basketball players are to yind to bring attention to by kneeling, which, by the, in the military, is a form of respect. Black lives matter Rick, not just the feelings of your son.
Rick Battistoni, who commented in this thread, is an administrator at Saint Michael’s College. The kneeling has nothing to do the the armed forces and has everything to do with the unfair treatment of minorities in the United States. Many people who are (or have been) in the armed forces are people of color, and their sons do not have the same freedom as yours, because they are more likely to be shot and killed by government employees (the police). People who say kneeling is an insult to people who are in the military are thinly disguised white supremacists.
Someone teach these kids they are not victims. You can only have so much black privilege. Black privilege affirmative action, 20 all black colleges funded by the government but no all white colleges because it is racist, bet because having a white channel is racist. White Privilege is a term made up by minorities who cannot take responsibility for their own mistakes and faults.
Richard Fink
If you’d paid attention for just a second to what Kaepernick had to say, you might understand that this protest has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the armed forces.
And, in case you harbor any illusions about the purpose of the military, it’s there to serve the Amerikkkan corporate empire. Don’t take my word for it; read Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler’s “War is a Racket.”
I’m sorry, Rick, with all due respect to your son, these athletes are taking a knee in the hope it will help lead to an America which is more worth fighting and God forbid dieing for. They deserve your respect, not condemnation.
My Son is a Marine currently deployed in the middle east. Kneeling during the National Anthem is, to put it in terms that the college indoctrinated leftists may understand, a “macro aggression”. It’s an insult and slap in the face of every person in the Military and their family. Just because you have the right to say/do something doesn’t make it right. Not proud.
good for them
Last month a D3 football player was kicked off his team for speaking his truth and taking a knee. Thank you to the SMC basketball team for having the integrity to respectfully kneel and bring attention to the racial injustices facing so many Americans and Vermonters. Coach Meyer may very well be the first collegiate or professional coach to display solidarity through his actions. That the team did so on an opposing team’s court in front of a packed house of fans, 99+% of whom are white, took far more courage than heckling anonymously from the stands. Proud to be a SMC alum.
I am impressed by and proud of these players for their courage! We are all made stronger by their example. As for the snowflakes who criticize them, they should examine their comfort with the status quo. It’s a long road for them to understand that they are white supremacists but I remain hopeful that they’ll get there.
As a UVM grad, it saddens me that NO ONE on the team demonstrated solidarity.
Smash white supremacy!