CHICAGO - Chicago police were thrust Tuesday into a political debate over kneeling during the US national anthem, after a photo of two officers in the protest pose appeared on social media.
The photo was posted Sunday by anti-violence activist Aleta Clark on her Instagram account. By Tuesday it had graced the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper and earned the officers a reprimand.
The kneeling pose during the national anthem is a symbolic protest over racial injustice popularized by American football player Colin Kaepernick.
It has become the object of a public feud between President Donald Trump and the National Football League (NFL).
The Instagram photo showed Clark posing with two uniformed Chicago police officers kneeling with one hand raised in a fist. Clark told AFP she had gone to two police stations to ask officers to pose for the photo.
"I wanted to see if there were officers that were in agreement that racism was wrong and that police brutality was also wrong," Clark said.
Officers at the first station she visited, whom she described as "Caucasian," declined. Two African-American officers at the second station agreed.
"It takes a lot for a person to sacrifice, to possibly jeopardize their careers, for something they believe in. That's heroic," Clark said of the officers.
Chicago, the third largest US city, has one of the highest number of shootings and murders in the country. Its police department also has a strained relationship with black communities, following a history of abuses.
The police department would not name the officers in the photo, but said that their actions had violated department policy.
"We... addressed this in the same way we handled a previous incident of potential political activity while in uniform (officers with a MAGA hat)," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told AFP by email.
Guglielmi was referring to the acronym for Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.
"The officers will be reprimanded and reminded of the policies concerning appearance and conduct while on-duty and in uniform," he said.
Trump called for players who engage in the kneeling protest to be fired, prompting a public outcry and more than 150 NFL players over the weekend engaging in symbolic protests at games.
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source: news.abs-cbn.com
PARK CITY, Utah - Athletes should feel free to express their political opinions during next February's Winter Games in Pyeongchang despite strict Olympic rules barring such demonstrations, the head of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) said on Monday.
Referring to Sunday's protest by over 100 NFL players, who went down on one knee during the national anthem to protest against racial inequality, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said athletes had a right to air their opinions.
"The athletes you see protesting are protesting because they love their country, not because they don't," he said.
"So we fully support that our athletes and everybody else to express themselves."
Blackmun acknowledged that the situation is trickier given the International Olympic Committee charter, which specifically bans "demonstrations of political, religious or racial propaganda" at Olympic venues.
"We have a little bit of a different state of play when it comes to the Olympic Games."
Blackmun praised the 1968 Olympic protest by American track and field athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave a black power salute from the podium in Mexico City, sparking controversy. Smith later stated that the gesture was a "human rights salute".
"That was a seminal moment not only for the Olympic movement but the U.S. Olympic team and we recognized them last year by bringing them to the White House," he said.
Several Olympic hopefuls backed the protesting NFL players but said on Monday that it was too soon to say what they may do if they find themselves in a similar position.
"I respect what those guys did and I do believe there is a lot of room for social change. As a person of color I do think it's something that we need to address," said Elana Meyers, an American bobsled pilot and two-time Winter Olympic medalist.
"But at the Olympics, the only time you get to hear your national anthem is if you win a gold medal.
"So it is going to come down to a game time decision."
Julia Mancuso, an alpine skier and four-time Olympic medalist, also supports the NFL players but said the dynamics are different for Olympic athletes.
"When it comes to the Olympics, I like to think that it's a special event not just like the NFL or pro sports teams that compete every weekend. For us it's every four years," she said.
"I'm proud of athletes that stand up for what they believe in... but I also like to think of us all as very patriotic athletes."
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LOS ANGELES -- Oakland Athletics player Bruce Maxwell has become the first US Major League Baseball player to kneel during the playing of The Star-Spangled Banner.
The 26-year-old catcher dropped to his knee in front of the team's dugout before the start of a regular season contest against the Texas Rangers on Saturday night. Maxwell placed his hand over his heart during the anthem and teammate Mark Canha stood next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Maxwell, who is an African-American, was adding his support to a protest begun by National Football League player Colin Kaepernick in response to the treatment of blacks by American law enforcement.
The Oakland Athletics issued a statement saying the team "prides ourselves on being inclusive" and supports "players' constitutional rights and freedom of expression."
Maxwell's protest comes after US President Donald Trump denounced protests by American pro athletes and rescinded a Washington invitation for NBA champion Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
Maxwell, the son of a US army veteran, was born in Wiesbaden, Germany and played high school baseball in Alabama.
The Athletics chose him in the second round of the 2012 MLB entry draft. He has three home runs and 21 runs batted in 71 games this season.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
