Curry to Trump: Kneeling Is All About Race

President Trump has tweeted more than 20 times since calling out the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and Stephen Curry by name. Since rescinding an invitation to the White House that Curry said he intended to decline, Trump has gone on to lambaste NFL teams and players who kneel in protest during the national anthem.

On Monday, Trump tweeted: “The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race. It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!”

On Wednesday, after training camp practice, Curry decided to make his position clear, telling KQED that racial inequities are “the genesis of our stance.”

“If you watched us all last year, for us, we stood during the national anthem,” said Curry. “Certain teams locked arms and had different demonstrations, and the NFL has taken a different approach. But it’s about the message, it’s not about the act. And for the life of me — if that doesn’t just get across to everybody … it’s not disrespecting anything about the flag or the anthem — then we can hopefully move in the right direction.”

Curry said the conspicuous omission on the latest Sports Illustrated cover of controversial NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick — the first athlete to kneel during the national anthem last year to protest police violence again black men — is “terrible.” The cover featured Curry center-stage alongside other sports stars locking arms. The magazine’s headline said: “A Nation Divided, Sports United.”

“The real people who understand … who’s been active and vocal and truly making a difference. …If you don’t have Kaepernick front and center, then something’s wrong. It’s about the true message and really highlighting the people who are doing the right things,” Curry said.

While the team says it hasn’t discussed what it will do during the national anthem before its upcoming game this Saturday, Curry offered, “We understand that all eyes will be on us.”

Curry thanked House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for her recent invitation to the team.

“Obviously, when we figure out what we’re going to do, hopefully we can rally a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different situations to share the same message, Nancy included,” Curry said.