New Carolina Panther receiver Torrey Smith talked Monday about taking a knee during the national anthem from a player’s perspective, and he absolutely got it right.
This feels ancient now. But when NFL players take a knee, they aren’t kneeling because they are anti-military and they aren’t kneeling because they are anti-police. They live in the same world we do, and they see inequality.
By now you’ve seen the video of the Milwaukee Bucks’ Sterling Brown being tased by Milwaukee police officers for, essentially, being 6-foot-6, 23 years old and black. Milwaukee’s police chief apologized.