Major league sports are back in full swing. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, baseball has returned for a brand new season and with it comes controversy on the sidelines. The President of the United States has made it clear that he has no intention of supporting players who choose to kneel al la Colin Kaepernick, so we can only imagine Trump's reaction to seeing both the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals take a knee prior to their game. All team members and coaches for both teams joined in the silent protest prior to the National Anthem, before standing for the patriotic song. The San Francisco Giants also took a knee, aside from one player, Sam Coonrod.
When asked why he didn't join his team in the silent protest for Black Lives Matter, Sam Coonrod cited his religious beliefs. "I’m a Christian, so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God," he said before adding there are Black Lives Matter issues that he doesn't agree with. "I just can’t get on board with a couple things I’ve read about Black Lives Matter, how they lean towards Marxism and... they said some negative things about the nuclear family. I just can’t get on board with that.”
Coonrod added that he doesn't have any "ill will" toward any players that executed the posture of protest. "I’m not mad at someone who decided to kneel. I just don’t think it’s too much to ask that I just get the same respect.”
[via]
