Mississippi Players Kneel During Anthem In Response To Pro-Confederate Rally

Six Mississippi basketball players take a knee during the National Anthem before the start of the game against Georgia at the Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. on Saturday, February 23, 2019. (Nathanael Gabler, Oxford Eagle via AP)
Six Mississippi basketball players take a knee during the national anthem before an NCAA college basketball game against Georgia in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. (Nathanael Gabler/The Oxford Eagle via AP)
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OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Eight Mississippi players kneeled during the national anthem in response to a Confederacy rally near the arena before the Rebels’ 72-71 victory over Georgia on Saturday

With the teams lined up across the court at the free throw lines, six players took a knee and bowed at the start of the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Two other players later joined them.

“The majority of it was just that we saw one of our teammates doing it and didn’t want him to be alone,” Ole Miss scoring leader Breein Tyree said. “We’re just tired of these hate groups coming to our school and portraying our campus like we have these hate groups in our actual school.”

The Confederacy demonstration took place a few hundred feet from the arena. In the aftermath of violence at a similar rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Oxford community has been on alert.

Various student groups held counter-protests on campus Thursday and Friday. Saturday’s march, led by Pro-Confederate groups Confederate 901 and the Hiwaymen, also drew counter-protesters. The march began at the Confederate monument on the city square and ended at another Confederate monument in the heart of the Ole Miss campus.

“This was all about the hate groups that came to our community to try spread racism and bigotry,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said. “It’s created a lot of tension for our campus. Our players made an emotional decision to show these people they’re not welcome on our campus, and we respect our players freedom and ability to choose that.”

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Notable Replies

  1. Trumplestiltskin tweet demanding player suspensions to follow about 30 minutes after Faux News airs this.

  2. Avatar for peteh peteh says:

    Good for the players who kneeled! And kudos for their coaches support.

  3. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    One side loves America and shows their respect for our values by kneeling, while the other side are/were literally traitors to America. Guess which side gets criticized?

  4. So can we infer that that folks who stayed standing didn’t mind the Confederate rally?

  5. Wait for it…

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