One Dallas area sportscaster gave a strong defense for athletes kneeling during the National Anthem during his newscast on Monday night. Dale Hansen of WFAA in Dallas spoke out against those critical of anthem protesters in the NFL and had some biting remarks for Donald Trump, whose opposition to said protests created a tense political atmosphere at NFL stadiums this past weekend.
“Donald Trump has said he supports a peaceful protest because it’s an American’s right,” Hansen said. “But not this protest, and there’s the problem: Any protest you don’t agree with is a protest that should be stopped.”
Hansen’s broadcast takes us through the history of nonviolent protest in America and also his own life. Though he served in Vietnam he defended the right of people to protest that “immoral war” and defended athletes protesting on the field of play.
“Martin Luther King should have marched across a different bridge. Young black Americans should have gone to a different counter and found a different lunch counter,” Hansen said. “And college kids in the 60s had no right to protest an immoral war.”
Hansen said saying black athletes are disrespecting the country and the flag is a “dong whistle” for racism.
The young, black athletes are not disrespecting America or the military by taking a knee during the anthem. They are respecting the best thing about America. It’s a dog whistle to the racists among us to say otherwise.
They, and all of us, should protest how black Americans are treated in this country. And if you don’t think white privilege is a fact, you don’t understand America.
The video is eloquent, respectful, and still a bit biting. On his decision to serve in Vietnam, for example, Hansen “my foot hurt, too. But I served anyway.”
