When Donald Trump declared that any NFL player who took a knee during the national anthem was a “son of a bitch,” he didn’t just succeed in angering virtually every player in the NFL. He angered a number of other athletes as well.
Among them was Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell. Just hours before his A’s took the field for their game against the Texas Rangers, Maxwell warned Trump that other players in other sports may start taking a knee as well.
Don't be surprised if you start seeing athletes kneeling in other sports now!! Comments like that coming from our president. WOW! ✊?✊?✊?
— Bruce T Maxwell (@bruu_truu13) September 23, 2017
Inequality is being displayed bigger than ever right now as our president shows that freeedom of protest and speech is not allowed..
— Bruce T Maxwell (@bruu_truu13) September 23, 2017
That night, Maxwell put his money where his mouth was. He became the first player in Major League Baseball to take a knee. And he did so with the full support of his teammates, as well as manager Bob Melvin and the A’s front office. In a statement, the A’s said in no uncertain terms that they support “all our players’ constitutional rights and freedom of expression.”
To those bottom-feeders who think Maxwell is “ungrateful,” he is the son of an Army veteran. He was actually born while his dad was serving a tour of duty in Germany, and wears his patriotism on his sleeve. In 2015, for instance, while playing with the A’s Double-A affiliate, the Midland Rockhounds of the Texas League, he said that playing on the Fourth of July meant a lot more to him than most holidays because he grew up in a military family. It should also be noted that when Maxwell kneeled, he put his hand over his heart.
Maxwell continued taking a knee during the anthem several times during the season, even on the road. After the season, he returned to his hometown of Harvest, Alabama, outside Huntsville. On Tuesday, he revealed that he got a less-than-friendly reception when he visited a restaurant in his hometown.
Maxwell told TMZ Sports that he and a high school friend who now serves on the city council of a nearby city visited a restaurant on his first day home after the season. When they sat down, he got a rather rude surprise. Watch him talk about it here.
Maxwell said that he “hadn’t even been home four hours” when he sat down for lunch. The waiter who initially came to their table was an ardent Trump supporter who had attended a Trump rally in Huntsville two months before the election. The waiter recognized Maxwell and started going on about how he supported Trump “and I stand for everything he stands for.” Fortunately, Maxwell’s friend was able to diffuse the situation by getting the manager to move that knuckledragging waiter off their table.
From the looks of it, Maxwell is holding to Mark Twain’s definition of patriotism–one that Trump himself would do well to remember, since he tweeted about it three years ago.
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” – Mark Twain
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2014
Yet another Trump tweet that hasn’t aged well.
Maxwell considered the incident in the restaurant to be a form of “racial profiling”–and a reminder of why he’s kneeling in the first place. Take note, Trump diehards. Maxwell and others aren’t kneeling out of disrespect for the flag. They’re kneeling because certain elements are forgetting the ideals for which that flag is supposed to stand.
(featured image courtesy Santiago Mejia, The San Francisco Chronicle)
