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Donald Trump made an appearance at Monday’s national championship game between Clemson and LSU and received a huge ovation from the crowd but standing just a few feet away from him was someone who doesn’t agree with the his policies .
During the national anthem of Monday night’s game, Minnesota’s 2019 “Teacher of the Year” Kelly Holstine took a knee while being recognized on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome field along with the other teachers.
Honored as State Teachers of the Year at NCAA Champ FB Game. Given platform to stand up for marginalized and oppressed people. Like many before, I respectfully kneeled during Nat’l Anthem because, “No one is free until we are all free” (MLK). #imwithkap #blacklivesmatter #LGBTQ pic.twitter.com/DimP3pBtBn
— Kelly D. Holstine (she/her) (@kellydholstine) January 14, 2020
Holstine spoke to the Hill and explained her decision to kneel during the national anthem.
Via The Hill
“I just decided that it felt like the right thing to do, to have a very respectful protest,” Holstine told The Hill. “It’s really Martin Luther King Jr. says it best: ‘Nobody’s free until we’re all free.”
“I think that the current environment that is being created and has been created in his tenure definitely adds to my feelings of wanting to support individuals who are not being supported,” she said. “I really feel like our country is not serving the needs of all its inhabitants … so many humans right now that are not being given the respect and the rights that they deserve.”
She found out Trump would be on the field during the National Anthem, so she then made the decision to kneel after consulting with her wife.
“Not everybody is given the opportunity to have a voice, and I can take a small moment, a respectful moment of protest, and exercise my First Amendment rights, and stand up for my students and for vulnerable adults and for people who are not treated in the way that they should be,” Holstine said. “It feels like my responsibility to do that.”