It appears the national anthem protest has trickled down to college basketball.
Two of the four college basketball teams that participated in the Champions Classic in Chicago on Tuesday night participated in a national anthem demonstration before their game.
Duke and Michigan State players don ‘Equality’ and ‘We Talk We Listen’ shirts during national anthem pic.twitter.com/YKI1R44yTD
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 15, 2017
While nobody took a knee, the players on each team wore t-shirts in an apparent demonstration in pre-game warm-ups and during the playing of the national anthem. Duke wore t-shirts with “Equality” written across the front whereas the players on Michigan State wore ones with the words, “We Talk We Listen.” The Blue Devils have been wearing the “Equality” shirts since the season began, but Tuesday was the first time the Spartans wore theirs.
Kentucky and Kansas played in the second game of the annual Champions Classic, but neither of those two teams participated in any form of demonstration. (RELATED: National Anthem Protest Extends To The NBA)
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling during the national anthem at the beginning of the 2016-17 NFL season in protest of racial injustice in America. Although Kaepernick is no longer playing in the league, several players are keeping the protest going. However, fewer and fewer players seem to be kneeling week by week.
The NBA has rules that require its players to stand during the national anthem, but teams have locked arms and worn t-shirts similar to that of the college teams that played in Chicago Tuesday night.