WASHINGTON — One of the most outspoken and successful athletes in history, Martina Navratilova, was packing for a quick trip to this city last week when United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg offered a take on Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest. Ginsburg called it “dumb and disrespectful,” and added, “If they want to be stupid, there’s no law that should be preventive.”
Navratilova bristled, and had good reason to. While she also thinks Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality “may be somewhat disrespectful,” she told me that athletes like him should be praised for speaking out on social issues – not shamed for it — especially when they do so in a peaceful way, as Kaepernick has.