![]() My dad is in law enforcement and he has to go to work. Me kneeling isn’t going to affect just me,” Butler said. “You start thinking and it’s not just about me. Then, Butler began thinking more practically about the situation and things quickly became more complicated. “It was like someone telling me I can’t drink out of a water fountain. “That was kind of like a line being drawn in the sand,” he said. Finally, Butler decided, it was time to join the protest. Even before deciding to engage in the protest, there was an endless list of factors that had to be considered by Butler and his teammates.Ĭolts players began to strongly consider taking a knee after criticism of the kneeling had increased around the country, including from the White House. There were even death threats, leaving him bewildered. ![]() The phones rang off the hook at the team facility in the following days, Butler said. Butler has reflected a lot on that decision while watching the protests and disturbances rage across the country in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd following his arrest by Minneapolis police officers.Īnd the decision by Butler to take a knee in protest of similar events provides a great example of the personal cost of protesting. It was not coincidental that the subject was revisited this week. ![]() “You knew what they were doing to Kaepernick.” For the guys that made that decision, I salute them. And then we went down and here come all the cameras (shuttering). “You know when that flag starts spreading out across the field, that’s usually when you get locked into the game. “Leading up to that moment, 25 percent of you is thinking about the game, but the other 75 percent is thinking about the anthem,” Butler said this week. But not everyone would agree with that decision, and Butler knew that. He joined a protest initiated in 2016 by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, kneeling during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” to shine a light on police brutality and to promote reforms. As the American flag unfurled and a crowd of more than 60,000 at Lucas Oil Stadium stood for the national anthem, Butler and eight teammates went down on one knee.īutler is a principled man, and this was his way of taking a stand.
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