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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This wouldn’t be an issue if we gave up the National Anthem at games. Not all of us are that kind of patriot.
Rick Battistoni- I consider Nate a good friend of mine and went to school with him at SMC. I don’t think Nate would consider this a slap in the face and I think he would support his classmates rights as American citizens to protest and speak their minds using the platforms they have, rights he chose to fight for. I have always found him a genuine and open-hearted person and I don’t think you should be using him to progress inflexible, reactionary attitudes about people that you disagree with. You are a horrible representation of the SMC community, yet your son is one of the finest. Shame on you.
One thing is for sure, SMC should be in division II, high school.
“Spectators shouted “stand up” and loudly booed – Oh yeah – How do you do that and sing the national anthem at the same time? Maybe those are the same folks who always start cheering for their team before the anthem is finished. I agree with the players’ protest and served 4 years in the military to help protect their right to do so.
I stand with Rick. Kneeling during the anthem is as egregious as rolling on Shabbos.
I did not watch my buddies die face down in the muck just so black athletes from some artsy-fartsy private school could make a mockery of their inviolable, patriotic duty to entertain white folk in Patrick.
Disappointing since those that started protesting during the National Anthem do not communicate what they are protesting about and so now we have college students copying them blindly. Those of us that are SMC alums were taught from the Edmundite Society that it was our responsibility and an honor to serve our communities and make a difference. These protests do not serve anything but disrespect. The saying was “act locally think globally” and I would give credit to the NFL players if they went back to their communities and showed the injustices occurring and did something about them. But do not disrespect the flag and what it stands for, which is self sacrifice of others for the majority.
Athletes in small division schools that don’t have the national spotlight cast upon are using this stage to get their message heard. It’s asinine to think that taking a knee before the flag during the national anthem to protest racial injustice is wrong. The only truly asinine actions are from those who spew hate from uneducated mouths towards those that are looking for change for the better.
Who really cares?
The original ‘protest’ in the NFL was based on the Hands Up Don’t Shoot news out of Ferguson that was a forensically proven LIE and became the epitome of Fake News by the biased Media in an effort to support Obama and Eric Holder’s opening salvo in their War on Cops.
To me this shows how truly boring basket ball and football are to watch. Fans have to get up in arms about some guys quietly kneeling. Find yourself a sport that you actually like to participate in, get off your butt and get some exercise in the process. Maybe you’ll work out some of your anger issues over other people kneeling. Yes I understand the point of the kneeling but I don’t think it helps too many people already see the flag as a religion.