“My answer is that I don’t see it as disrespect,” said Kapler.
“I don’t see anything more American than defending what you think. I don’t see anything more patriotic than peaceful protests when things are frustrating and annoying,” Kapler said.
Kapler knelt down alongside several Giants during the anthem for Monday’s game against the Oakland Athletics.
The Giants posted a video of their kneeling team members on the team’s official Twitter account titled “#BlackLivesMatter.”
Trump, a frequent critic of the hymn protests, responded in a tweet.
“I am eager to experience sports, but every time I see a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our country and our flag, the game ends for me!” Trump wrote.
Kapler, who knelt with the players again on Tuesday, said Trump’s criticism will not deter him.
“There is no one to stop us from doing the right thing. No matter which leader says they are not going to play a game. What matters most is that we don’t hesitate to try to do the right thing,” he said. “What guides our decision is defending the people who need us to defend them.”
Athletes have knelt before the anthem to support protests for social justice and racial equality as the country accepts systemic racism and protests have erupted over police killings of black people.
The hymn demos were popularized by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who first sat down and then knelt for the anthem in 2016.
In an interview after Monday’s game, Kapler said the Giants had conversations about what to do during the anthem for the three days leading up to the exhibition.
“I told them that I wanted to amplify their voices and that I also wanted to amplify the voice of the black community and marginalized communities,” he said. “I told them that I wanted to use my platform to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the way we handle racism in our country. I wanted to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with our clear and systemic racism in our country, and I wanted them to know that they made their own decisions and we We would respect and support those decisions. “
“We support those who knelt to peacefully protest racial injustice and those who expressed their love for the country. We do not see them as mutually exclusive feelings and we believe that the freedom to express both is what our country is all about,” Zaidi said.
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