Gabe Kapler, the manager of the San Francisco Giants announced on Friday he will not be taking the field for the National Anthem out of shame for America.
Kapler wrote that he is “not okay with the state of this country,” and that he “felt like a coward” for not protesting “the lack of delivery on the promise of what our national anthem represents,” ABC 7 News reported.
“Moving forward, he doesn’t plan on taking the field for the national anthem ‘until I feel better about the direction of our country’ and that 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 told reporters before a Friday evening game in Cincinnati, according to the news outlet.
He added: “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,” he wrote on his blog.
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“We elect our politicians to represent our interests. Immediately following this shooting, we were told we needed locked doors and armed teachers. We were given thoughts and prayers,” he explained.
“I’m often struck before our games by the lack of delivery of the promise of what our national anthem represents. We stand in honor of a country where we elect representatives to serve us, to thoughtfully consider and enact legislation that protects the interests of all the people in this country and to move this country forward towards the vision of the “shining city on the hill.” But instead, we thoughtlessly link our moment of silence and grief with the equally thoughtless display of celebration for a country that refuses to take up the concept of controlling the sale of weapons used nearly exclusively for the mass slaughter of human beings. We have our moment (over and over), and then we move on without demanding real change from the people we empower to make these changes,” he added.
Kapler concluded his remarks by declaring that protest is the only proper response.
“I wish I hadn’t let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this,” he wrote.
Kapler’s comments were in response to the recurring mass shooting in the country. An 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, days after a gunman killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York.
Read more on ABC7 News.
