Friday, December 15, 2017

High school athletes who took the knee honored in Lansing


Lansing City Council honors football players who knelt during anthem to protest racism



LANSING — City Council honored four black Lansing Catholic High School football players who were punished by their school after kneeling during the national anthem to protest racism.

On Monday night, council adopted a resolution, which referred to the students as the "Lansing Catholic High School 4."

Lansing Catholic High School told students this year they would be penalized if they refused to stand for the national anthem before football games.

Senior Michael Lynn III, senior Matthew Abdullah, junior Kabbash Richards and senior Roje Williams knelt before several games this season to call attention to racial injustice. As a result, the school prohibited the boys from starting during some games and, in certain cases, appeared to reduce their playing time. 

“There are people that have called our actions disrespectful and I ask that those people find the disrespect in the injustices that we are calling attention to," Lynn said during Monday's city council meeting.

Read more at Lansing State Journal.