Forget about Trump inciting a riot. Forget about domestic white terrorists following his lead and bum-rushing the Capitol. Forget about the “light-handed” and late response by law enforcement that allowed these insurrectionists to storm their way in, destroy and steal property, threaten elected officials, and create a situation in which five people died. Forget about all of that because the Kentucky Men’s Basketball team took a knee in a symbolic gesture against these riotous acts, and they’re now being labeled as disrespectful and unpatriotic.
Unsurprisingly, some took their disgust over their peaceful actions to another level, including two members of Kentucky law enforcement who posted a now-deleted video in which they showed their contempt for the team. But as we know, the internet always has receipts, so they were caught.
Kentuck sports radio host, Matt Jones, caught Sheriff John Root of Laurel County, Kentucky and his accomplice burning Kentucky shirts after they posted the video to Facebook.
“We’re kind of disgusted and outraged, last night, of the University of Kentucky Wildcats that disrespected our American flag and our National Anthem.” said Sherriff Root before they dumped Kentucky team t-shirts into a fire. But the anger didn’t stop there as other local officials jumped into the mix demanding action against the university, some asking state lawmakers to defund the university.
On Monday, the Knox County Fiscal Court adopted a resolution requesting that state leaders reallocate tax funds that are normally directed to the university. Their resolution wants state leaders “to reallocate tax funding from unpatriotic recipients to hard-working Kentucky [taxpayers] across this Commonwealth.”
“[The university] receives millions and millions of dollars every year of hardworking Kentucky taxpayers’ money. I think they need to be held accountable for their actions if they can’t manage it no better than that,” said Knox County Judge Executive Mike Mitchell.
To their credit, the team’s student-athletes were prepared for the backlash, were resolute in their actions and addressed the situation after their win against Florida.
“We understood that our gesture would have consequences and we just want people to understand,” said senior Olivier Sarr per The Times Tribune. “We know some people would be mad or pissed but we just want people to understand that it’s a peaceful way to protest and the way we can, using our platform and we just want people to understand to raise awareness and that’s it.”
“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on every day that we knelt for,” said sophomore Keion Brooks. “The Capitol, that stuff had a part to play in it, but there’s some other things that we don’t see that go on every day that are unacceptable and that we want to take a stand against.”
The University defended the team’s actions and issued the following statement:
“A value we all hold dear in our country is the right of free speech and self-expression. That right for young students such as these is important, too, as they learn, grow, and find out who they are and what they believe. We won’t always agree on every issue. However, we hope to agree about the right of self-expression, which is so fundamental to who we are as an institution of higher learning. We live in a polarized and deeply divided country. Our hope — and that of our players and our coaches — is to find ways to bridge divides and unify.”
Coach John Calipari also came to his team’s defense, discussing the situation on his radio show.
“It was all the images that they saw and they wanted to have their voice heard, and I said, well, ‘Tell me what it’s about,'” said Calipari. “They talked to me about it. Then they said, ‘We’d like you to kneel with us,’ which I did. I held my heart, but I did kneel with them because I support the guys. But it wasn’t about military. Six of these players come from military families… This wasn’t about the military.”
The players understand why they took and knee and what it truly represents, opposed to the false narratives that others continue to promote.
“We’re just trying to make a peaceful protest and trying to get through to everybody that we need equality just like everybody else,” said freshman Isaiah Jackson. “This is a great country but we feel like everybody, like minorities and stuff, don’t have equal rights as everybody else, so that’s what we’re protesting. That’s why we kneeled. That’s what a peaceful protest is.”
