Rahm Emanuel: Athletes Kneeling During National Anthem Akin to Kneeling at ‘Religious Services’

Monday on ABC’s “The View,” former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) compared athletes kneeling during the national anthem in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement to congregants kneeling at religious services.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, “We were talking earlier in the show about athletes taking a knee, and someone told me you had a change of heart on this. What did they mean?”

Emanuel said, “Well, you know, when it first happened three years ago when Colin took a knee, I was, like, you know, you have to respect America, and I didn’t think that was appropriate. You know, at the religious services of the High Holy Days Jewish services, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we in the middle of services, do take a knee and bow to God in our humbleness and understand that we have work to do to live up to God’s image and doing God’s work. As I started to expand my reading in the Islamic faith, the Catholic faith, in key moments, one takes a knee in awe of both respect to God, but also humbly knowing that seeing God’s work here on earth is not done.”

He added, “When you step back and look at it, John Lewis, at the steps of the bridge, took a knee and Dr. King. Here a knee is out of respect to the flag and what it represents about America, not out of disrespect, but that America has fallen short of its promise. If you look at religions of many faiths, bowing is understanding humbly that our work is not done. So my view began to change thinking of it both as a Jew, as a key moment between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, as we think about it as our work as we respect the flag, but that America has work to do to achieve the ideals that the flag represents.”

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