San Francisco Giants Manager Protests National Anthem Over Mass Shooting

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San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler announced that he was protesting the National Anthem in response to how the nation handled the mass shooting at an Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. 

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem coming forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” he said in an interview last week. “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 referenced a blog post he wrote that detailed how he was disappointed with how the country managed the shooting. 

“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,” he wrote.

He also criticized how long the Uvalde police took to enter the school while 18-year-old Salvador Ramos murdered helpless children. 

“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,” Kapler continued. 

He went on to bash the police for how they treated the parents that gathered outside of the school while their children were held captive inside. 

“The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops,” he went on. 

Kapler did choose to postpone his protest on Memorial Day, when the Giants beat the Phillies 5-4 in extra innings. 

“While I believe strongly in the right to protest and the importance of doing so, I also believe strongly in honoring and mourning our country’s service men and women who fought and died for that right,” he announced on Monday. 

“Those who serve in our military, and especially those who have paid the ultimate price for our rights and freedoms, deserve that acknowledgment and respect, and I am honored to stand on the line today to show mine,” he concluded.


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