At a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday evening, Trump lashed out at players who have joined a growing protest movement started by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick against racial injustice, kneeling during the national anthem ahead of games. We get response from former NFL player Donté Stallworth, who spent 10 years in the league and is now a sports commentator, who says, “We can’t allow the president to hijack this conversation and make it all about him.”
Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to bring in our third guest, who has been waiting patiently, Donté Stallworth, former NFL star. Oh, you’ve played with the Philadelphia Eagles, the New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and beyond. A lot of those teams took action yesterday. Your thoughts and feelings as you saw them on the field and also those that just stayed back in the locker room for the playing of the national anthem?
DONTÉ STALLWORTH: First, I wanted to say that I totally agree with and share Dave’s sentiments on Dr. Edwards and appreciate everything that he has done and everything that he is continuing to do in staying engaged in this political debate and in this environment.
HARRY EDWARDS: You guys are going to make me cry. I appreciate it.
DONTÉ STALLWORTH: And yeah, so we just wanted to say, definitely, definitely appreciate you, Dr. Edwards.
HARRY EDWARDS: Thank you.
DONTÉ STALLWORTH: Amy, I believe that when you look at the players — and we all kind of use the word “solidarity,” and that’s exactly what it is. It’s brotherhood amongst people that are in the locker room. We see each other every day. We are essentially like family, and we treat each other like brothers. And so when I see guys that have — long before today or long before the last couple weeks, guys have been engaged in this political discourse, not just by talking about it, but they’ve been engaged, where the president…