One of the most high-profile quarterbacks in the National Football League believes players on his team should individually choose whether or not to kneel during the national anthem.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott argued that the United States enshrines the right to protest and that players on his team should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to participate in social justice activism.
“That’s what this country is about, the freedom to do that, the freedom to express yourself,” Prescott said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We heard [Cowboys owner Jerry Jones] talk about grace and sharing grace and having grace with players in what they want to do. If I had it my way, that’s exactly what we’d do is express ourselves individually but love and support one another collectively.”
Jones, who has shifted his position on kneeling considerably over the years, said last month that he hopes the team can participate in a joint way to show their concerns for police brutality against young, black men.
“The takeaways from the team meeting, just that ownership supports us,” Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “We’re going to support each other. Our steps forward from this point on, just making sure we get out in the community. We want to focus on working with the youth — going back in our Dallas community and working with the youth.”
Discussions surrounding pregame social justice demonstrations have intensified after the National Basketball League and other professional sports leagues chose to protest by not playing games in August to highlight such causes.
