For the NFL, playing the national anthem started as a patriotic marketing ploy. It’s now played before every game alongside ‘Lift Every Voice,’ the Black national anthem, and ‘America the Beautiful.’
On “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Whoopi Goldberg said, “I don’t want to make a fake apology.”
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On-field demonstrations of remembrance and protest are able to harness potent political power.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady celebrates after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game in February, 2021.
(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The NBA stands behind the rights of players to protest. But the league finds itself in a delicate position, trapped between the competing demands of its advertisers, TV partners, owners and players.
Black Lives Matter: West Indian players (as well as England players and match officials) took the knee before the start of the first cricket Test on July 8.
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The Black Lives Matter movement reminds us that using national anthems at sporting events is often insensitive and whitewashes the prevalence of racism in sport.
The NFL has been thrust into conversations around criminal justice since Colin Kaepernick and others chose to kneel in protest against police violence, but also in the case of former player Aaron Hernandez.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
There’s no First Amendment in the workplace, which leaves worker activists at the whim of their employers.
The NSW Blues’ Cody Walker is one of several players who will remain silent during the Australian national anthem at Wednesday’s State of Origin match.
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Several Indigenous rugby league players have vowed not to sing the national anthem during this week’s State of Origin match. Will the protest spark a conversation, or fizzle out?
A Nike ad campaign billboard features NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
EPA/Alba Vigaray
Nike has reaped a whirlwind in their latest ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, but it’s the inevitable windfall they’re likely interested in.
Colin Kaepernick, centre, and his San Francisco teammates kneel during the national anthem before an NFL football game in 2016.
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Much of the discussion about “Take a Knee” has overlooked the issues of justice and social exclusion, and especially environmental matters. That’s something to think about during the Super Bowl.
In this Dec. 18, 2016, file photo, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) and two of his teammates kneel during the playing of the national anthem before an NFL game.
(AP/John Bazemore)
The main reason owners and athletes stay away from mixing politics and sport is that it allows them to sell their product more easily. In doing so, pro sports conforms to classic capitalist ideology.
Almost 50 years ago, a white, non-American athlete supported Black athletes protesting racial injustice. Peter Norman paid a price for taking a stand. Canada’s Sidney Crosby is no Peter Norman.
New Orleans Saints fans cheer from the stands during a game against the Denver Broncos in 2016.
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