The list of detractors refusing to stand for the National Anthem continues to grow. It's not just amateur and professional football players and college students since Colin Kaepernick took a stance in August. Now the sentiment has segued into college marching bands.
Before the kickoff of the Central Florida-East Carolina football team on Saturday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, the Eastern Carolina marching band had five members kneel during their performance of "The Star Spangled Banner." Despite the five who knelt with their instruments in hand, the band played on, as the old saying goes.
This photo below shows that two out of the three tubists who knelt continued to perform, while the two remaining protesters stopped playing their clarinets.
Here's another angle from the front of the band's formation that shows the band members kneeling.
When the band returned for halftime, they were met with resounding boos from the crowd. You can hear the anger loudly from the game's attendants in the clip above.
Shortly thereafter the protests from the band members, ECU president Dr. Cecil Stanton released a statement about the situation on the field:
For a full transcription of the statement, you can read it below:
“While we acknowledge and understand the disappointment felt by many Pirate fans in response to the events at the beginning of today’s football game, we urge all Pirate students, supporters and participants to act with respect for each other’s views. Civil discourse is an East Carolina value and part of our ECU creed. We are proud that recent campus conversations on difficult issues have been constructive, meaningful exchanges that helped grow new understanding among our campus community. East Carolina will safeguard the right to free speech, petition and peaceful assembly as assured by the U.S. Constitution.”
East Carolina joins UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Charlotte as another North Carolina college or university with students who have protested the National Anthem. The protests come in the wake of the police shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte last month, which has brought much political unrest within the state since his death.
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