Marshawn Lynch wears an anti-Trump shirt before game (Photo)
By Josh Hill
Marshawn Lynch silently protested Donald Trump’s policies while arriving at Sunday’s game against the Broncos.
Last Sunday saw every team in the NFL conduct a protest aimed at comments made by Donald Trump. The president called any player who won’t stand for the anthem a “son of a b****” and demanded they be “fired”.
The comments were in response to a year-old form of protest where players take a knee during the national anthem to raise awareness for social justice causes such as poverty and police brutality.
Lynch was among the first players to kneel for the national anthem this preseason and his protests have continued for another week. BEfore the Raiders game against the Broncos, Lynch walked into the stadium with a shirt on that read: Everybody vs. Trump.
Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch wearing an "Everybody vs Trump" T-shirt: pic.twitter.com/7aiCUbjLUD
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 1, 2017
You could hear the coals getting stoked before you even finished reading what was on the shirt.
This is both good and bad, as far as protests are concerned. Players are allowed the right to freedom of speech to protest peacefully when and where they want, so long as it’s lawful. Kneeling before or during the anthem or wearing a shirt is a form of peaceful and lawful protest.
The problem with this is that it continues an anti-Trump narrative that takes away from the originally intended message of the protest. One criticism of the protests last week was that it was in defiance of Trump as opposed to supporting Colin Kaepernick and his fight for social justice in largely black communities.
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Lynch is the loudest player who rarely opens his mouth, and peaceful protest is far and away a jam that suits his style. It’s a message worth listening to, as is all protests that are staged whether you agree with them or not, and that’s what we should take away from this. The nation is as politically charged as it has ever been, and it’s instances like this where we should open a dialogue about why he’s wearing the shirt as opposed to name calling and taking the lazy route out.