Giants Manager Kapler Skipping National Anthem Over Uvalde Shooting: ‘We Weren’t Given Bravery, and We Aren’t Free’
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler says he is no longer coming out for the National Anthem before games as he’s dissatisfied with the “direction” of the country in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting that left more than 20 dead.
“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” he told reporters while sitting in the dugout before his team’s game against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. Kapler said he doesn’t expect the effort to “move the needle,” but he feels strongly enough to make the statement.
In a length blog post, Kapler further explained his decision, referencing a report out of Uvalde that a mother was handcuffed after urging police to enter the school where the gunman had barricaded himself with students. That same mother also reported seeing parents tackled, pepper-sprayed, and tasered by officers at the scene. Uvalde police have come under scrutiny for their decision to delay breaching the room and engaging with the shooter, a decision Texas Department of Safety head Steven McCraw admitted at a press conference this week was “wrong.”
“We weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free. 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,” Kapler wrote.
The former outfielder also blasted politicians for not making more progress on gun control.
“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,” he wrote.
Kapler said in the post that standing for the National Anthem and putting his hat over his heart has become “self-congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where mass shootings take place.”
