During a recent panel, Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke was asked if he agreed with NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem, and whether or not he found it disrespectful to those who served and are currently serving our country.
His answer was perfect, to say the least.
‘I can think of nothing more American.’ — Beto O’Rourke — the man taking on Ted Cruz — brilliantly explains why NFL players kneeling during the anthem is not disrespectful pic.twitter.com/bEqOAYpxEL
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 21, 2018
“My short answer is no, I don’t think it’s disrespectful,” O’Rourke began.
He went on to mention Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, which goes into grave detail about the challenges faced during Dr. King’s nonviolent movement to secure better civil rights.
“The freedoms that we have were purchased not just by those in uniform … but also by those who took their lives into their hands riding those Greyhound buses,” he continued. “Those Freedom Riders in the Deep South in the 1960s, who knew full well that they would be arrested. Rosa Parks moving from the back of the bus … Peaceful, nonviolent protests including taking a knee at a football game to point out that black men, unarmed … are being killed at a frightening level right now … without accountability and without justice.”