Sports, Politics And Social Justice Collide After Trump Rips NFL, NBA Protests

By Daniel Tucker, Jason Marck
Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs take a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on Sunday in Carson, Calif.
Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs take a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on Sunday in Carson, Calif.
Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs take a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on Sunday in Carson, Calif.
Terrance Smith #48, Eric Fisher #72, Demetrius Harris #84, and Cameron Erving #75 of the Kansas City Chiefs take a knee before the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center on Sunday in Carson, Calif.

Sports, Politics And Social Justice Collide After Trump Rips NFL, NBA Protests

By Daniel Tucker, Jason Marck
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The rumbles over former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision last year not to stand during the national anthem came to a boil this weekend. After President Trump insulted players who protest during a speech Friday night and went after Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry for his decision not to visit the White House, players and team owners from the NBA, the NFL and even Major League Baseball fired back with their own comments or took action.

On Saturday, Lebron James — arguably basketball’s biggest star — tweeted and released a video saying that he could no longer stay silent about President Trump’s decision to, in his words, use sports to divide the nation.

Together we win. #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/7rfkKAMBoe

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 25, 2017

Then on Sunday, many more NFL players than normal decided to take a knee during the anthem and several teams made the decision to bypass the anthem altogether by staying in the locker room until the song was over.

Morning Shift talks to sports legal analyst Exavier Pope and WBEZ sports contributor Cheryl Raye Stout about a weekend where sports, politics and social justice issues collided.