Crowds Aren't Booing Flag Disrespect, But Equal Rights

The picture above, from the Associated Press, was found at the ABC News website. It shows the Dallas Cowboys players, coaches, and owner kneeling arm-in-arm before the football game last Monday night. They said it was to show their support for equal rights (and their fellow NFL players).

They were booed by a significant portion of the crowd there to see the game. My question is -- why were they booed? It cannot be because they "disrespected" the flag or the anthem. The kneeling was done BEFORE the flag was unfurled and the anthem sung. They stood (arm-in-arm) during the singing of the anthem.

All I can figure is that those who booed don't respect the First Amendment to the Constitution (which guarantees the right to peaceably demonstrate), or the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution (which guarantees equal rights under the law to all citizens), and don't believe the police should be required to treat minorities the same way they treat whites (which is what the kneeling is about).

That's a sad commentary on our society -- that many people would put a piece of cloth and a song above the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Why don't they realize that those rights are far more important to our democracy than showing respect to symbols (a flag or a national anthem)?

Fortunately, a new poll shows that although those people disrespecting our Constitution are a minority (albeit a significantly large minority). The survey is the Reuters / Ipsos Poll -- done on September 25th and 26th of a random national sample of 1,622 adults, with a 2.8 point margin of error.

It shows that 57% of the public disagrees with Trump that NFL players who kneel should be fired, while only 29% agree with Trump. In fact, 53% don't think Trump should be commenting on the players kneeling anyway, while only 35% think he should be commenting.