going on with all types of minorities and just people in general, the hate and discrimination going on right now. and we just felt to show our unity on top of what happened with donald trump and more about the equality, it just seemed to bring our team together. we just wanted to not isolate who was scared to go and kneel. we wanted to be ale to find a way not to put anybody in the lime light, just to know that we made as a decision as a team to stand for what we believe in. i wonder if you think the president s comments were motivated by razor racial attitudes that he may have? i think it had palgts bit to do with race. i think so. i think a lot of people agree with that. but for us it s just we re just want to help find a way to change our community. and i know a lot of people don t like it because we empowering people of color, empowering people who choose what to believe in. and just as someone who doesn t understand, you know, the idea of taking a knee during the national
it s all good and dandy, but we re out here protesting systemic injustices. they were protesting their feelings being hurt. paris, why don t you respond. yeah. you know what? listen, i think ba carry makes excellent points as to why some of the people, especially colin kaepernick takes the knee. my only point is the act of taking the knee or not putting your hand over your heart or not standing for the national anthem or the pledge is disrespectful and it takes away from the original message. look, when mow happened allee was so upset about the injustices he faced and tossed his gold medal into the rifl down there where he lived, that was that was a medal that he earned. that was what he fought for. that was his. when you do this about the flag, when you do this against the national anthem, you re doing this to something that people bled and died for
everybody in america fights for, equality, liberty, justice and freedom for all. i wonder who when you saw the pittsburg steeler defensive lineman alejandro villanueva, who served in the military, he came out and stood during the anthem. everybody else in his team department. i m wondering what you thought of that decision? i thought that s shows america. that s the freedom to express what he believed in and he expressed what he plooefd in. that s what it s really about. what s the difference between a guy kneeling and standing up for what he believes in? we re all standing for the same thing. bullet i don t think we should be judged as unamerican because we believe in equality. just like he believes in what he believes in, i applaud him for standing up for what he believes in. and that s what america is about. and i m very honored to have somebody like that in the nfl and just to be able to go through what he s been through and still stand up for what he believes in. i saw that
the number one currency we have in this country right now is race. and the president used that. and he knew he was using it and he knew where he was using it. and, yeah, it riled up his base because i think that people the irony in this discussion, anderson, is that people take more offense to a knee while we re singing the national anthem than they took to a knee in the back of freddie gray when he was murdered in baltimore. i mean, you think about the fact that paris denard and others sit here over the last two weeks and defended confederate monuments that are up throughout the south and throughout the country saying that they should be able to stay there. many of those same people in alabama fly the confederate flag. so you re telling me that something is wrong with me and i m not pate on theic and actually protesting which is my first amendment right yet you want to glorify, memorialize treason.
time to time and pulls our attention away from some of the other pressing issues that are out there. this is a president who is losing on health care tonight. he is not going to repeal and replace obamacare, something he said he would do the very beginning of his administration. we re not talking about that quite as much as we re talking about the nfl. all right. thanks very much. bennett, the political and personal side of this story overlapped for him. he said police in las vegas stopped him as he and others were fleeing what sounded like gunshots after the floyd mayweather connor mcgregor fight. he said officers singled him out for nothing more than being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time. police held a gun to his head. i spoke with bennett late today about his decision and his teammates to stay in the locker room for the national anthem. michael, when you first heard when the president said friday night calling players who kneel sons of bridges, saying thebd be