Miami Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills took a knee during the national anthem before every game last season to create awareness for social injustice, and even though he won't be kneeling in 2017, he's applauding those who will.
Stills, who was one of four Dolphins players who took a knee during last year's regular-season opener to join Colin Kaepernick's crusade against social injustice, was proud of the 12 Cleveland Browns players who knelt in prayer during the national anthem of Monday night's preseason game against the New York Giants.
"It's pretty alarming that we've got a league that's majority African-American, and we didn't have many guys that were getting involved. I was pretty excited and encouraged by [the Browns]," said Stills, who the Dolphins re-signed to a four-year, $32 million contract this offseason. "People were saying that they are praying for our country and I support that as well."
The group, which included veterans, rookies, starters and backups, and featured players with varying ethnicities, gathered in front of the water coolers and some stood behind their teammates with a hand on their shoulder.
The Browns' protest was the largest the NFL has seen since the movement began last year when Kaepernick, the 49ers former starting quarterback who is presently unemployed, was trying to create awareness for issues like police brutality, and the disproportionate amount of arrests that take place in African-American communities.
"I'm encouraged to see people involved and hope they start taking action and getting involved in the community," said Stills, who won the Dolphins' Nat Moore Community Service Award for his charitable work last season, and plans to take his activism to the next level this year.
Stills and safety Michael Thomas knelt all last season, but haven't done so during Miami's two preseason games. Stills, who caught 42 passes for 726 yards and led the team with nine touchdowns in 2016, said he doesn't plan to kneel because "the narrative was going the wrong way," referring to the perspective that those NFL players who were kneeling were being unpatriotic.
"I felt people were being distracted by the kneeling and not the work we were doing," said Stills, who participated in numerous programs associated with Dolphins owner Steve Ross' Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), a multi-pronged program designed to help children combat racism and stop bullying. "I'm trying to get it back going the right way. As long as they start getting themselves involved in the community and doing the work people can't have anything negative to say about that."
ESPN honored RISE, which was formed as a response to the Dolphins' bullying scandal in 2011, with a Stuart Scott Enspire award at the Sports Humanitarian Awards this year for their efforts to facilitate leadership programs in high schools and colleges, which "empowers administrators, coaches and student-athletes to be leaders in discussing and addressing matters of racism, prejudice, diversity and inclusivity within their teams, schools and communities," according to the news release.
