Tony La Russa Criticizes SF Giants Manager Gabe Kapler for Protesting During Anthem: ‘Not Appropriate’ Place to ‘Voice Your Objection’
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Legendary baseball manager Tony LaRussa is criticizing one of his peers for what he sees as an inappropriate protest.
In remarks to the media on Saturday, White Sox skipper LaRussa took on San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler — who announced Friday that he does not plan to come out of the dugout for the national anthem, in response to the Uvalde school shooting. LaRussa said he likes and respects Kapler and believes he is “exactly right to be concerned … with what’s happening in our country.” But the famed manager took issue with Kapler’s method of protest
“Where I disagree is that the flag and the anthem are not appropriate places to try to voice your objection,” La Russa said. “I think you go directly to what the cause that really bothers you about the direction of the country is.
So to me, it isn’t the flag and the anthem. I think it makes more sense to figure out which of those issues and speak about the ones he didn’t like and what he will do about it.”
La Russa added, “I would never not stand up for the anthem or the flag. Maybe just because I’m older, and I’ve been around veterans more than the average person. Some of their courage comes from what the flag means to them and when they hear the anthem. You need to understand what the veterans think when they hear the anthem or see the flag. And the cost they paid and their families. And if you truly understand that, I think it’s impossible not to salute the flag and listen to the anthem.”
Kapler wrote in a blog post that he would no longer participate in “self-congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where mass shootings take place.”
“We weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free,” Kapler wrote, invoking the anthem’s lyrics. “The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops. We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills.”
