Gabe Kapler, manager of the San Francisco Giants, is protesting the national anthem because he’s not proud of how his country has handled the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Texas May 24.
“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem coming forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler said during an interview on NBCS. He then referenced what he’d written on his lifestyle blog, Kaplifestyle.
“The day 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered, we held a moment of silence at sporting events around the country, then we played the national anthem, and we went on with our lives,” Kapler wrote as the opening statement. He then elaborated further on his standpoint. “Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I’m participating in a self congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place,” Kapler wrote.
“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country” – Gabe Kapler pic.twitter.com/J1MdlVL3XI
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 27, 2022
Kapler continued to express his concern about the country’s response to the tragedy in Texas. “We elect our politicians to represent our interests. Immediately following this shooting, we were told we needed locked doors and armed teachers. We were given thoughts and prayers. We were told it could have been worse, and we just need love,” Kapler wrote.
He then went on to detail specific events that troubled him, “The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops,” Kapler wrote. (RELATED: Public Safety Director Admits Police Error In Texas School Shooting As He Reveals Children Repeatedly Called 9-1-1)
“We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills,” Kapler said.
“I’m often struck before our games by the lack of delivery of the promise of what our national anthem represents,” he continued.
Kapler described the United States as “a country that refuses to take up the concept of controlling the sale of weapons used nearly exclusively for the mass slaughter of human beings.”
Kapler expressed deep regret that he hadn’t responded sooner by refusing to stand for the anthem on the day of the shooting, and recalled the values instilled in him by his father. “I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this,” Kapler wrote.