On Monday, Sept. 25, members of the Black Student Union (BSU) decided to take a knee rather than stand during the Pledge of Allegiance to protest social injustice and to promote solidarity with NFL players who knelt during the national anthem.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired,’” Trump said at a political rally on Friday in Huntsville, Ala.
BSU’s president, Quintez Brown (12, HSU), said that taking a knee is about more than just Trump.
“A lot of people think that taking a knee is a trend or just something that everyone is doing right now, but taking a knee means that you are fighting against racial injustice, racism and oppression that goes on in the nation, because that’s what Kaepernick really intended it for,” Brown said. “When you take a knee, it shows that you respect the flag, respect the country, but it also shows that there is something wrong with this country and that there is something that needs to be fixed. It’s a protest.”
Evan Farmer (12, MST) is the vice president of the BSU. He said that the protest was not disrespectful.
“We wanted to show that we stand with the NFL and that we stand in solidarity with people that are protesting the flag and the oppression that it represents,” Farmer said. “When we take a knee, it isn’t a sign of disrespect; it’s just a sign of us protesting for our rights and for justice in our communities.”
Dear ALL students at duPont Manual High School,
I'm taking a knee at school tomorrow. Are you? #TakeaKnee
— duPont Manual BSU (@dmhs_bsu) September 24, 2017
The club’s announced their plan to protest via a tweet on Sunday.
Not all BSU members took a knee
Million Greenlee on kneeling during the pledge from duPont Manual on Vimeo.
Million Greenlee (11, MST) is the treasurer of the BSU. While he did not kneel during the pledge, he still sat because he views kneeling as a sign of submission, and he did not want to “stand for a country that does not stand for him.”
“It’s pretty important to say that this protest is not at all unpatriotic or anti-American; it is actually one of the most American things you can do. It is our constitutional right to protest and to care for the country,” Brown said. “[Soldiers] are not fighting for our flag, they are fighting for our freedom.”
According to Brown the members of the club plan to continue this protest as long as they can, or until, “Trump apologizes to all of the athletes that he called ‘son of a —.'”
