San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been met with both jersey-burning and defense from the president over his decision to sit in protest during the national anthem as a means of calling attention to police brutality and racial injustice in America. After his initial gesture, Kaepernick was joined in the preseason by fellow 49er Eric Reid and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane, who has said he plans to continue sitting in protest during the regular season.
But the tight-knit Seahawks team won't let one of their members stand — or rather, sit — alone. Seattle receiver Doug Baldwin told The Seattle Times he is also considering sitting for the Star-Spangled Banner at Sunday's opening game, and linebacker Bobby Wagner said there is talk in the locker room of making the gesture together as a team.
"Anything we want to do, it's not going to be individual. It's going to be a team thing. That's what the world needs to see. The world needs to see people coming together versus being individuals," Wagner said.
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Baldwin didn't confirm or deny the team's possible joint protest. "Our locker room has discussed it. So we'll see," he said.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll confirmed he is okay with whatever Lane's decision is going forward. "He's pretty clear on what he did and what he was trying to express and I think it is very simple so we'll leave that up to him. But he understands the responsibility of it, I think, and shouldering it," Carroll said. Kaepernick has already adjusted his form of protest, choosing to kneel rather than stand or sit — a "respectful and symbolic" gesture, as Deadspin puts it. But whatever the Seahawks' decision might be, it will be especially loaded as their game Sunday falls on Sept. 11.
Baldwin said that could make the group's gesture even more powerful. "I think it's very ironic that 15 years ago on Sept. 11 is one of the most devastating times in U.S. history, and after that day we were probably the most unified that we’ve ever been," he said. "And today you struggle to see the unity."
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