Gabe Kapler, the manager of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants, announced Sunday he will no longer join the team on the field for the pre-game performance of the National Anthem in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting that killed 21, CBS News reports.
“Players, staff and fans stood for the moment of silence, grieving the lives lost, and then we (myself included) continued to stand,, proudly proclaiming ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. We didn’t stop to reflect on whether we are actually free and brave after this horrific event, we just stood at attention” Kapler wrote in a blog post on his personal site. “When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn’t. I don’t believe it is representing us well right now.”
The National Football League suggested to players protesting injustice in the American legal system and support for Black Lives Matter to stay in their locker rooms during the performance of the anthem rather than protest on the field.