San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest against racial inequality continues to gather momentum. On Sunday, four Washington Redskins’ players – DeSean Jackson, Niles Paul, Greg Toler and Rashad Ross – became the latest professional athletes to boycott the U.S. flag during the pre-game national anthem.
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In the pre-game ritual against the New York Giants Sunday, the players raised their fists in a Black Power salute.
Before the game, Washington Coach Jay Gruden had insisted that his team would not follow Kaepernick's example of kneeling for the national anthem.
"We have a ton of respect for what goes on for our country with those people," Gruden told reporters, referring to members of the military. "For three minutes for us to take our helmet off and stand up and give respect is how we treat it here with the Redskins."
The last NFL team to integrate, and its flat-out refusal to change the team moniker despite growing protests from Native Americans, the Redskins have for years been known as the most racist in professional football, and to this day, many Black people in the Washington, D.C. area claim, as their favorite team.
The gesture coincides with protests that began last week in Charlotte, North Carolina, following the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old Black man.
Just before Scott’s death, a video of a Tulsa police officer shooting and killing Terence Crutcher, another Black man, also caused outrage among those concerned about police brutality incidents against Black people.