Posted in: Movies, Sports | Tagged: #TakeTheKnee, Cleveland Browns, Detriot Lions, HRL, lebron james, nfl, nfl protest, Pittsburgh Steelers, rico lavelle, trump

NFL Players Lock Arms And #TakeTheKnee At Kickoff Today

NFL players took to the field (some of them) at the start of games today and locked arms and took a knee in protest of racial inequality and police brutality. All players from teams, regardless of race, stood together with arms linked, both standing and kneeling. Some teams didn't even come out of the locker room for the national anthem. The Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in the locker room while the anthem was played, with only head coach Mike Tomlin standing on the sideline.

In Detroit, singer Rico Lavelle finished singing the anthem and took a knee as he finished the song.

https://twitter.com/SInow/status/912001508744601600

The protests have been magnified this week because of the comments made by Donald Trump. At a rally earlier this week, he had the following to say about Colin Kapernick and others who have participated in the protests:

"Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he's fired. He's fired!"

And this was just the first round of games. Another slate of games kicks off this afternoon at 4 p.m. and then there will be primetime games tonight and tomorrow. All eyes will be on the players as they continue to show support for the movement Kapernick started last year. For the record, Kapernick remains off any NFL roster currently.

Athletes in general have been under attack this entire weekend from Trump. He also rescinded an invite for the NBA Champions the Golden State Warriors to visit the White House. That was after Warriors superstar Stephen Curry expressed that the team would meet as one and decide if they would attend.

NBA superstar LeBron James joined many other NBA players in criticizing Trump, saying the following in a video posted to The Uninterrupted:

"We all know what happened at Charlottesville and the divide that caused and now it's even hitting more home for me now because he's now using sports as the platform to try and divide us.

We all know how much sports brings us together, how much passion it has, how much we love and care and friendships and everything it creates. And for him to try and use this platform, even more, it's not something I can stand for, it's not something I can be quiet about.

We, as American people, need to actually just come together even more stronger man. This is a very critical time and me, in the position I am, I had to voice this to ya'll."

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