Several Giants, including Gabe Kapler, knelt for the national anthem. pic.twitter.com/qMIkwOaFOn
— KNBR (@KNBR) July 21, 2020
Before their first exhibition game of the short preseason, the Giants made a different kind of statement.
Six Giants, including and led by manager Gabe Kapler, were spotted kneeling for the national anthem before Monday’s matchup at the Coliseum. Also taking a knee in Oakland were outfielders Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater and Jaylin Davis, first-base coach Antoan Richardson and hitting coach Justin Viele. Brandon Crawford put his hands on Davis’ and Richardson’s shoulders.
Kapler, whose parents were civil rights activists, had signaled he would have “difficult” conversations with the team in the clubhouse following the death of George Floyd in police custody and the ensuing fury and protests that spilled out across the country and globe.
Kapler, in stating that “Black Lives Matter,” said, “Racism, sexism, homophobia and examples of privilege and inequality are happening all the time in the baseball environments as well as in society. White men are privileged.”
None had kneeled during the Cactus League games in February and March. Kapler, asked why Floyd’s death while a Minnesota policer officer knelt on his neck had affected him so, said in May: “I think it’s perhaps that it’s the fact that you need to ask that question. We shouldn’t have to ask ‘why this case’ about the deaths of unarmed black men in this country. It should be an abhorrent aberration when it happens instead of just another statistic. Unfortunately, that isn’t yet our reality.”
Several Giants knelt for the national anthem, led by Gabe Kapler. Jaylin Davis, Austin Slater too. pic.twitter.com/dPtfOTzSiR
— Mark W. Sanchez (@MarkWSanchez) July 21, 2020