Early in October a group of some 30 students staged an anti-American protest during the football game between the University of Alabama and the University of Kentucky. But now another group of U of A students have organized a patriotic counter protest.
The original protest occurred on October 2 as the Crimson Tide faced Kentucky in a blowout 34-6 victory. Before the game started about 30 students indulged a planned protest against the country during the playing of the national anthem.
While many Bama students praised the effort, not everyone at the school supported the anti-American demonstration and those who opposed the attack on the U.S.A. organized a counterprotest for the October 22 game as the Crimson Tide faced Texas A&M.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, the organizer of the counter protest, U of A freshman Cody Leach, said that he organized the counter protest — which he called “Bama Stands” — to avoid engaging in fights on social media.
“I wanted to organize Bama Stands,” the political science major said, “because it seemed like a good way to respond to the (protests) without devolving and bashing people on social media. Instead, we sought to draw light to the reasons people do stand for the national anthem.”
Leach pointed out that his effort dwarfed the size of the 30 anti-American protesters from earlier in the month.
The pro-America effort was well received, Leach said.
“We passed out at least 200 full-sized or mini-flags and when the ‘USA’ chant erupted, well over 10,000 people joined in,” the student noted.
He also said that when he first began to organize the October 22 response he experienced some backlash on social media but it wasn’t too voluminous.
Thus far university officials have stayed mum over the dueling protests saying only that students must remain respectful of each other’s free speech.
But Leach said he had a very important message to impart with his response to the anti-American anthem protest.
“Remember,” Leach told Breitbart, “the national anthem is more than a two minute inconvenience before a football game. It stands for so much for, and so should you. There are better ways to protest than sitting like a child.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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