Now Musicians Like Eddie Vedder, Roger Waters and Prophets of Rage are Taking a Knee
What began as a one-man protest by Colin Kaepernick has mushroomed into an NFL-wide demonstration of solidarity. Some of the biggest guns in the NBA are on board. And now more and more musicians are showing how they feel about Donald Trump’s comments regarding what he believes to be disrespect of the American national anthem.
On the list of knee-takers so far:
Stevie Wonder
Stevie again, this time with Dave Matthews
Pharrell Williams
Eddie Vedder
A special night in Tennessee with #eddievedder @PearlJam pic.twitter.com/neAhYMBn03
— Jonathan Cohen (@brainofjoacohen) September 25, 2017
Roger Waters
A special night in Tennessee with #eddievedder @PearlJam pic.twitter.com/neAhYMBn03
— Jonathan Cohen (@brainofjoacohen) September 25, 2017
Prophets of Rage also offered their voices in protest. And John Legend wrote this on why the NFL protests are patriotic.
The president of the United States loves to drape himself in the symbols of patriotism, but fails to respect the ideals at the core of our Constitution and national identity. Trump may love the flag, but he doesn’t love anything it’s supposed to stand for. He actively encouraged a hostile foreign power to infiltrate our electoral process. He wants to suppress millions of Americans’ right to vote because they didn’t vote for him. He routinely undermines freedom of religion with his rabid Islamophobia, attacks the free press with disturbing regularity, and is now attacking the rights of the people to peacefully protest.
Protest is patriotic. Protest has played a critically important role in elevating the voices of the most vulnerable in our nation. Protest in America has been essential to ending war, to demanding equal rights, to ending unfair practices that keep citizens marginalized. If we quell protest in the name of patriotism, we are not patriots. We are tyrants.
