Monday, former NFL cornerback Antonio Cromartie explained on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak for Yourself” that he took a knee during the national anthem earlier this season in order to protest homeless veterans.
Cromartie, who was released by the Indianapolis Colts in October two days after protesting during the national anthem, said his protest had nothing to do with Black Lives Matter, but was directed at the large amount of homeless veterans and children.
Partial transcript as follows:
What I did is was stand up for something that was right for me at that point in time. That was more so, not for all of this Black Lives Matter — I think to me, I’m not a part of that movement. My thing is I was more so taking a knee for veterans, for children, those guys that fought for this country and now they’re number one homeless in America. Second to that is children.
So, you want to sit here and say we’re a country that cares so much about our veterans but yet they’re still number one in our homeless department, and after that is children. And when I look at it, you can’t sit here and say that we as a people care so much or NFL cares so much about what’s going on with the veterans just because, you know, one thing is, you can’t get paid $6 million to present an American flag for us to stand like we’re patriotic and everything else.
So, if it was patriotic we would have been doing it from the time the NFL came about and not from 2009 until now to show [patriotism] America because it’s not just about that. It’s not just about the flag. It’s about everyone. If we’re a people, we have to make sure that we take care of each other like we’re supposed to.
After the Colts released the former Pr0-Bowl corner, his wife took to social media to say he was let go because of his protest and not because of his declining play on the field.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.