LA Clippers: Doc Rivers supports national anthem protests
By Tom West
LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers supports his players or any others if they decide to follow Colin Kaepernick and make a protest during the American national anthem.
Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee for the American national anthem has gained more momentum than many would have expected. It’s sparked far more debate and focus on the issue of police violence and racial profiling in the USA, and while he’s expressed his support of the military, he’s said he isn’t willing to stand up for the national anthem of a country with such issues until they’re resolved. Kaepernick has helped carry the conversation and others are following, including LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.
Dan Woike of the Orange County Register has reported some comments from Doc, who’s said that he believes a protest to lead to social change is, “the most patriotic thing we can do”:
"“Listen, we need social change. If anyone wants to deny that, they just need to study the history of our country,” he told the Southern California News Group on Friday. “… I’ve said it 100 times. There’s no more American thing to do than to protest. It’s the most patriotic thing we can do. There are protests I like and protests I don’t like. It doesn’t matter… Protests are meant to start conversation. The conversation, you hope, leads to acknowledgement, and the acknowledgement leads to action. We’re, right now, still in the conversation.”"
Many will agree with Doc that the decision of Kaepernick and other athletes isn’t to protest against the police doing their job admirably, the military, or the American flag, but to lead a movement against blatant racial issues that can’t be ignored. To lead a conversation as to how we can create real change and garner more attention to it.
There is never going to be a protest that pleases everyone. It’s why Kaepernick was voted as the most disliked player in the NFL in a recent poll. But standing by in silence and failing to publicly and passionately address the issue won’t make matters better.
Doc also spoke on how he’ll hope to tackle such issues with his LA Clippers, saying that he supports his players in their right to protest. And while he won’t tell the team how to act as individuals, he does hope that the team will organize themselves together in a unified protest:
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"“I hope we do it as a group. I know whenever you protest as one solid group, the protest has more teeth if you want to protest… I’m supporting our guys’ right to protest. I’m saying that up front. My hope is you believe it and do it for the right reasons and not just because it’s a hot topic on Instagram.“I hope it’s in your heart and you believe in it. If it’s something in your heart, who am I to tell you not to stand up for what you think is morally right?“My job is to educate them the best I can. Their job is to take the education and use it in the best way. They have to make individual decisions, but we’re hoping individual decisions turn into a team decision.”"
As of right now, we don’t know exactly how the members of the Clippers will look to act when the season rolls around. It’s hard to see that the players, at least some of them, won’t be willing to stand with their head coach and do their part in leading the conversation for change.
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We’ve already seen Chris Paul speak up alongside LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony with a powerful speech to open this year’s ESPYs, so we can probably expect to see Paul join his LA Clippers teammates in protest or a call for social change next season.