Former Attorney General Eric Holder stated Wednesday on CNN that gold star families shouldn’t be offended by NFL players kneeling for the national anthem.
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Holder, in an interview on CNN’s “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” said, “I think that people — gold star families should not necessarily feel offended because the purpose of those demonstrations was not to disrespect people in the military, not to disrespect the flag.”
He also thought that it was time for “dialogue” over police brutality against African-Americans.
These are players expressing, using their First Amendment rights to express views about the interaction between people in law enforcement and communities of color. That’s what the stated purpose of the protest is. Having said that, they certainly have that right, but people certainly also have the right to react to the way in which they perceive, you know, these protests. I think that these protests really offer us an opportunity for some dialogue to talk about the underlying issue that the players were trying to raise, you know?
Holder continued, saying, “Let’s talk about the way in which law enforcement interacts with certain communities in our country. If we do that, I think something positive can come out of this controversy. And I think, unfortunately, what the President’s done here is to try to politicize something. He’s trying to create a social wedge issue where there is really not the need.”