INDIANAPOLIS – Twenty-three members of the 49ers protesting social inequality apparently prompted U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to stage a protest of his own.
Pence, the former governor of Indiana, tweeted on Sunday morning that he looked forward to cheering on the Indianapolis Colts and “honoring the great career” of Peyton Manning.
The Colts unveiled a statue of Manning outside the stadium on Sunday. Manning was scheduled to be honored at halftime.
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Then, he misrepresented the stated reason for the players' protest in a statement to explain his actions:
No members of the Colts were seen protesting during the national anthem.
The 49ers did not have a formal team-wide protest on Sunday, but more than 20 players – active and inactive – took a knee during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner as a peaceful protest against social injustices in the United States.
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Eric Reid and Colin Kaepernick last year made it clear their intent in kneeling during the national anthem was not to disrespect the flag, the national anthem or the miltary. Recently, Reid explained why he chose to kneel during the national anthem.
“Our goal is to make people uncomfortable about the issues,” Reid told NBC Sports Bay Area. “But the anthem is just a vehicle to get us to have those conversations. It’s the platform we have. It’s the only time we have to get the eyeballs on us to do that. If we just did locker-room talks afterward, nobody would even know. Strategically, this is the only way we thought we could do it.”