Local response to NFL, Trump comments mixed
By Melinda Harrell and Joey Pitchford
Published in News on September 26, 2017 5:50 AM
After President Donald Trump released his comments on National Football League players kneeling for the national anthem and the subsequent protests by more than 200 NFL players Sunday, debate over who was right flared in the country.
In Wayne County, the response by some is mixed, from understanding of the players who kneel to support for the president's hardline stance.
"I don't blame them for not standing up for the flag, because the flag has not been standing up for us," Doris Hernandez said Monday in Goldsboro.
"I love America, but America is full of it. That's where I stand."
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality around a year ago and other players followed suit.
During a recent rally in Huntsville, Alabama, Trump targeted players who kneel for the anthem saying, "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now, out, he's fired, he's fired."
The president's comments -- and tweets later -- left some people appalled by his behavior, including Lendell Williams.
"I don't follow the NFL really, but it was unprofessional for the president of the United States to make a statement like that," he said.
Gregory Whitley, a Marine Corps veteran, said he supported the players' right to stand or kneel, but that didn't make it any less offensive to him and also delivered a critique of Trump's comments.
"I think they have the right to do it," he said.
"I think it is disrespectful to the country and me, because I am a veteran. But Donald Trump's comments were disrespectful, too. I love this country. I put my life on the line for it."
Stan Smith said he voted for Trump, but he disagreed with how the president addressed the NFL players' protests.
"I voted for Trump, but for him to call them SOBs, that was not OK," Smith said.
"But I do think that they shouldn't be protesting the anthem. If you can stand up for the British anthem but not for your own country's anthem, that's crazy."
Patrice Richardson said she was "kind of in the middle a little," because she understood that they were exercising their rights as Americans but the protest itself was disrespectful.
"I know it's their right, but if you don't respect your country, maybe you should leave it," Richardson said.
Chad Coyers supports Trump's stance, and though it is the players' right to kneel, he said, they should expect to deal with the consequences of their protest.
"I feel like they all should stand," he said.
"That's what I'd do, that's the way it's always been. I did hear (media reports) say Donald Trump's comments had nothing to do with race. But it is their right. It's everyone's right to have freedom of speech, but there are consequences for everything you do."