Giants' Kapler refusing to take field for anthem in protest

[ificandream]

Source: Associated Press/Jeff Wallner

CINCINNATI (AP) — San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Friday he will refuse to take the field for the national anthem in a protest over the nation’s political direction following this week’s school shooting in Texas.

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler said before a series opener at Cincinnati. “I don’t expect it to move the needle necessarily. It’s just something that I feel strongly enough about to take that step.”

Kapler said he needs more time to consider specific actions he might suggest be taken to prevent more tragedies of this type, such as stronger gun control laws.

Kapler said that on the day of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, “I knew that I was not in my best place mentally and I knew that it was in connection with some of the hypocrisies for the national anthem and how it coincided with the moment of silence and how two things didn’t synch up well for me, but I couldn’t make sense of it in real time and it took me a couple of days to pull all my thoughts together.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/mlb-politics-sports-texas-shootings-02e297bb2bee8f00d1605c5f49ce3d8e

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I am so very very proud to be a fan of the Giants (even though a RW is among their chief executives.)

[ificandream]

1. Here's a post by Gabe Kapler explaining in more detail.

The day 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered, we held a moment of silence at sporting events around the country, then we played the national anthem, and we went on with our lives.

Players, staff and fans stood for the moment of silence, grieving the lives lost, and then we (myself included) continued to stand, proudly proclaiming ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. We didn’t stop to reflect on whether we are actually free and brave after this horrific event, we just stood at attention.

When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn’t. I don’t believe it is representing us well right now.

This particular time, an 18 year old walked into a store, bought multiple assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, walked into a school with an armed resource officer and its own police district and was able to murder children for nearly an hour. Parents begged and pleaded with police officers to do something, police officers who had weapons and who receive nearly 40% of the city’s funding, as their children were being murdered.

Read more:

https://kaplifestyle.com/2022/05/27/home-of-the-brave/

[Magoo48]

6. Solidarity, and Thank You.

[Evolve Dammit]

2. Thank you sir

[FSogol]

3. I always thought Kapler was one of the bigger bozos manging a club, but good for him.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Thank you for this act of courage

Link to tweet

[SallyHemmings]

5. His first coaching gig

was in Philly. As with many who come through Philly’s sports teams, he seemed to figure out the coaching thing after he left. There are too many examples to list.

That being said no one ever questioned his character. Today I celebrate him.

[ck4829]

7. K&R