Colin Kaepernick may have closed the door on the idea of continuing his anthem protest this season. However, fellow anthem-protestor Kenny Stills has left that door open.
The Miami Dolphins wide receiver was asked on Wednesday whether or not he would continue kneeling for the national anthem this year. Stills is undecided, but definitely didn’t rule it out, saying, “I guess we’ll see when the time comes. I’m doing my best to continue to work and make an impact in the community, and I feel like that’s the most important part about what I’m doing right now.”
Stills stressed that he feels the time has come for action, not just symbolism:
I think here locally we’ve done everything that we can and we’re going to continue to do that. The ride-along that we did last year with law enforcement is something that we’re going to try to do again this year and something that we’re trying to expand on throughout the league, and so I just try to focus on the positive things that we’ve done here and try and spread the message to other guys and other teams. . . .
I mean I try to do my best to just do the right thing in all situations and that’s how I handle it. I’ve gotten more involved this past year and that’s something that I just . . . I can’t hold back on because it’s something that is true to my heart and so that’s kind of how I handle every situation I come across.
Of course, a logical question would be that if Stills and others are doing all these things in the community to improve relations, then why isn’t that enough? Isn’t that more important than kneeling for the anthem? Wouldn’t mentoring a couple kids from bad neighborhoods be far more impactful than disrespectful moral signaling?
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn