Baseballer Sam Coonrod defended his decision not to kneel during the National Anthem and insisted he’s only willing to take a knee before God.
As the San Francisco Giants’ reliever expressed, he refused to take a knee during the Thursday game even though all of his teammates showed their support for the Black Lives Movement by kneeling as the National Anthem played.
According to NBC Sports, Coonrod later defended his decision not to kneel by suggesting he believes the BLM movement is starting to “lean toward Marxism and they’ve said some negative things about the nuclear family” that he “just can’t get on board with.”
As the Giants’ reliever added, he, as a Christian, is bothered by some of the things he “read about Black Lives Matter” and is only willing to take a knee before God.
“I meant no ill will by it. I don’t think I’m better than anyone,” Coonrod said.
“I’m a Christian, so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God.
“I’m not mad at someone who decided to kneel. I just don’t think it’s too much to ask that I just get the same respect.
“I chose not to kneel. I feel that if I did kneel, I would be being a hypocrite. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite. Like I said, I didn’t mean any ill will toward anyone.”
Following the season-opening match in which the Giants faced the Dodgers and lost, Coonrod also appeared to have touched the topic about the current state of ‘wokeness’ as he suggested that the problem lies in people getting “mad whenever someone disagrees” with them.
“I’m not mad at someone that decided to kneel. I think it’s not too much to ask that I just get the same respect, you know?” he concluded.
Replaced!