A Whole High School Team Took a Knee for the National Anthem

Subversive gesturing during the national anthem is super hot right now. Some football players like Colin Kaepernick and Arian Foster are sitting out the anthem more or less on their own. Some players are raising their fists. And the Seattle Seahawks made a whole production out of their collective anthem gesture, locking arms to demonstrate unity or whatever.

Now anthem gesturing has reached the high school ranks, where in Seattle all the members of what can only be described as a particularly woke high school football team took a knee during the national anthem on Friday.

According to the Seattle Times, the Garfield High football team’s protest has to do with the rarely sung third verse of the Star Spangled Banner, which includes the line, “No refuge could save the hireling and slave; from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.”

"Stunned at the revelation and frustrated by their own experiences in modern-day America, the Bulldogs decided they wouldn’t stand for it anymore. The Garfield football team knelt in unison during the playing of the national anthem before its 52-9 Metro League win against West Seattle on Friday."

Members of the opposing team, West Seattle, also knelt during the anthem. All the players who knelt did so with the blessing of their coaches and administrations.