A notoriously “woke” MLB team manager has announced that he’ll be skipping the national anthem before future games in part because Congress is unable to pass the gun control laws he believes would have prevented the Uvalde mass shooting.
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler, who last made headlines in 2020 when he took a knee on behalf of the since-discredited Black Lives Matter movement, announced his decision both in a blog post and also while speaking with reporters.
“When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn’t. I don’t believe it is representing us well right now,” the blog post reads.
Published Friday, the post attributes several factors to his decision, including the lack of gun control, but also including the Uvalde Police Department’s widely condemned behavior during Tuesday’s mass shooting.
We’re not the land of the free nor the home of the brave right now. https://t.co/XilHsz4s0W
— gabe kapler (@gabekapler) May 27, 2022
“This particular time, an 18 year old walked into a store, bought multiple assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, walked into a school with an armed resource officer and its own police district and was able to murder children for nearly an hour. Parents begged and pleaded with police officers to do something, police officers who had weapons and who receive nearly 40% of the city’s funding, as their children were being murdered,” the post continues.
“We elect our politicians to represent our interests. Immediately following this shooting, we were told we needed locked doors and armed teachers. We were given thoughts and prayers. We were told it could have been worse, and we just need love. But we weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free. The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops.”
The arguments for locked doors and armed teachers have been dismissed by the establishment left despite critics saying they’re valid.
When anyone suggests measures designed to prevent school shootings that AREN’T large-scale gun control, the media mock them. Even if those measures would be far more effective and achievable than Democrats’ largely-unspecified policies. Which means this is all posturing.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 26, 2022
ONE POINT OF ENTRY. A lot of schools do this. It is a sensible measure that doesn’t require an act of Congress. It does not eliminate other doors, which open from the inside but are generally inaccessible from the outside, so that visitors are funneled through a central point. https://t.co/mCAkQfhjjW
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) May 26, 2022
Kapler’s post then starts becoming increasingly political as he begins tapping into his disdain for the Second Amendment.
“We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills,” the post reads.
Turning to the act of standing for the national anthem, he describes it as a “thoughtless display of celebration for a country that refuses to take up the concept of controlling the sale of weapons used nearly exclusively for the mass slaughter of human beings.”
“We have our moment (over and over), and then we move on without demanding real change from the people we empower to make these changes. We stand, we bow our heads, and the people in power leave on recess, celebrating their own patriotism at every turn,” the post continues, referencing members of Congress.
Gabe Kapler explains why he won’t be coming out for the anthem: pic.twitter.com/r7xloNmrkI
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 27, 2022
The post concludes with Kapler expressing regret for not taking a knee during a game that occurred Wednesday.
“On Wednesday, I walked out onto the field, I listened to the announcement as we honored the victims in Uvalde. I bowed my head. I stood for the national anthem. Metallica riffed on City Connect guitars. My brain said drop to a knee; my body didn’t listen. I wanted to walk back inside; instead I froze. I felt like a coward,” the post reads.
“But I am not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn’t let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this.”
Incidentally, his ability to express his dissatisfaction without facing any government penalties seems to disprove his claim about America not being free, critics have said.
Critics have also expressed confusion over his apparent belief that more laws — specifically laws infringing upon the Second Amendment — would make America truly free.
The very fact that you can post your thoughts like this, criticizing our elected public officials, with no fear of prosecution, shows the very fact that we are indeed the land of the free. You are factually wrong on that.
— Jon (@pronkville08) May 27, 2022
So ‘GUN CONTROL’! Then we’d be the land of the free and the home of the brave? How about a data-driven study and a debate about ALL the contributing factors including mental health, homelessness, decline of family values, glorification of video game violence, unrestricted porn.
— GunDogJay (@GunDogJay) May 28, 2022
Not The land of the free, because you want less freedoms? Not the home of the brave because the honorable courageous cops have been defunded and all that’s left is the cops who are there for a pension ??? The ONLY thing that will save lives is good people stopping bad people.
— Ramone Jones 🇺🇸 (@RamoneJones14) May 28, 2022
@gabekapler Boycotting the National Anthem solves nothing. Maybe you should try coming up with a better way forward. This country allows you freedom to speak and a good-paying job that many don’t have. Count your blessings, love the country or leave.
— amp40 (@amp4010) May 28, 2022
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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