By mainstream political standards, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may be considered to be one of the more liberal of the nine members of the nation's highest court, but that doesn't always translate to her being on the side of popular opinion among the left. Ginsburg shared her opinion of the protest movement initiated by Colin Kaepernick on Monday [October 10], during an interview for Yahoo, with Katie Couric. Espousing a view that generally runs contrary to those who believe he is merited by a dire enough need to bring attention to police violence in the Black community, Ginsburg called Kaepernick's use of the National Anthem "dumb and disrespectful." She said Kaepernick's decision to take a knee during the Star-Spangled Banner draws no different a response from her than burning the American Flag would.
“I would have the same answer if you asked me about flag burning. I think it’s a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn’t lock a person up for doing it. I would point out how ridiculous it seems to me to do such an act,” Ginsburg said. Couric inquired into the veteran Justice's position on the protest during a visit for which she appeared to promote her new book, In My Own Words.
The 83-year-old incumbent Judge went on to chastise the character of the dozens who've taken up the protest across the NFL, and the many other pro-athletes who've knelt in solidarity, saying, “if they want to be stupid, there’s no law that should be preventive. If they want to be arrogant, there’s no law that prevents them from that. What I would do is strongly take issue with the point of view that they are expressing when they do that.”
While the number of players in the league who've either knelt or raised a fist during the pre-game ceremony has wavered over the first five weeks of the season, team-wide demonstrations have grown, as players opt to be in solidarity with however they choose to call attention to the social ills in question. Nearly 40 individual players have demonstrated at any given week, and there have been up to a hand full of teams locking arms in a week, including one gesture which involved the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons linking in a huge circle after the anthem. The Seattle Seahawks have been demonstrating as a team since week one, and such players as Brandon Marshall of the Broncos and Kaepernick himself have been in protest from the very beginning as well. Meanwhile, teams at every level of sports have carried out demonstrations during the National Anthem, leaving many curious to see whether the protests will pick up across leagues, once the NBA officially kicks off its season.
Source: fox43.com
