The white US army veteran behind “taking the knee” – viewed by some as an incendiary political gesture – today speaks out to the football fans who boo kneeling players.
Despite the widespread belief African-American Colin Kaepernick created the anti-racism protest, it was former Green Beret Nate Boyer who suggested it.
And he says kneeling shows nothing but respect. As England took on Scotland in their Euro 2020 clash at Wembley last night, the Marine-turned American footballer gave his first UK interview explaining about kneeling on the pitch.
He said: “Kneeling for me and for a lot of people throughout our history has not ever been seen as a disrespectful act.
“People kneel to pray, to propose to their future spouse. In American football, you kneel towards players hurt on the field. Everybody takes a knee out of respect until they are carted off. It’s the same with the Queen. When anyone is knighted, they too take a knee.”
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The gesture before a game was adopted in English football after the murder of African-American George Floyd, 46, by white police officer Derek Chauvin, 45, in May of last year.
At the time, the Premier League and its clubs explicitly supported Black Lives Matter, with the organisation’s logo sewn on to every player’s shirt.
But after a statue of Winston Churchill was vandalised by BLM protesters in London and its UK Twitter account criticised the state of Israel, the Premier League distanced itself from the cause.
As last season got under way, English football clubs agreed that rather than kneeling in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, they would kneel in support of a new No Room For Racism campaign.
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The decision failed to stop the BLM association – and some heckling.
Before England’s opener against Croatia on Sunday, a minority of booing supporters were drowned out by majority applause at Wembley.
Addressing England’s remaining boo-ers, Boyer denied the anti-racism protest was ever designed for the Black Lives Matter movement.
He said: “Colin and I’s conversation never had anything to do with any organisation. Colin’s protest is about police brutality, racial inequalities of justice for black people and people of colour, not necessarily taking a knee for the Black Lives Matter organisation.”
To football fans who boo the England players making the gesture before a game, Boyer said: “I’d say to them you’re entitled to your beliefs. You’re entitled to your opinions.
“You’re entitled to all that stuff but fighting fire with fire doesn’t work.
“I would just ask them, how is that [booing] helping? How is that showing you really care and that you want to move forward together?”
Kaepernick’s first use of the gesture in 2016 was a modification of an existing anti-racism gesture – sitting down during the pre-match national anthem.
Boyer wrote an open letter to Kaepernick, 33, in an army magazine, suggesting that sitting down at such a moment gave the wrong impression.
The pair met to discuss the issue.
Boyer recalls of their chat: “When we sat down, Colin said he was trying to show that he wasn’t protesting an anthem or protesting the flag.
“He asked me, ‘Is there a way I can protest that is not going to offend people in the military?’ I said, ‘There’s nothing you can do that’s not going to offend some people. The only thing that makes sense to me would be taking a knee if you’re not going to stand’.
“The first game, he took that knee, I was standing right next to him.
“All I could hear was booing over the anthem. How was that not more disrespectful than kneeling?
“The anthem is playing so if you’re one of these patriots, one of these people that feel so passionate about this, then shut your mouth and put your hand on your heart and stand with pride and face the flag and sing.”
Nate’s American football career came after military service during which he witnessed horrors including the Darfur genocide in Sudan.
As a soldier, he says he fought for people’s freedom – for example to choose whether or not to kneel before a sports match or even burn a flag.
Nate said: “I fought to defend the constitution, which includes the first amendment, which provides for freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and that’s what he was exercising peacefully. People may not like that, but I still fought for that.
“You know, everybody in the military did.
“I feel hurt when I see somebody burn the American flag, but I still fought so they could do it.”
After the army, he was homeless for a while but then went to university.
While there he taught himself some gridiron techniques from YouTube.
His standard was so high that he later played for the Seattle Seahawks.
Nate also took a swipe at Home Secretary Priti Patel, who defended football crowds’ right to boo those footballers taking a knee at matches.
He said: “I think politicians have politicised this thing because they want to use it. They want to leverage it. So they get elected again because that’s all they really care about”
England defender Tyrone Mings has also taken a dim view of her comments.
He has vowed the squad will continue “educating the minority” by promoting racial equality through the Euro 2020 tournament.
Perhaps surprisingly, Nate added: “I’ve never taken a knee. That’s not something that I feel compelled to do.
“But if there is a group of people... that don’t think they are truly equal and are not, they don’t feel as they count as the same as I do, I want to fight for those people, just like I fought for them when I was in the military.
“I want to... figure out how can we arrive with some solutions together where we both feel like we count. We all should. Football fans too.”
