49ers’ Eric Reid calls VP Pence leaving game over anthem protest ‘Systemic Oppression’
The NFL made headlines again Sunday after Vice President Mike Pence walked out of the game between the Indianapolis Colts and the visiting San Francisco 49ers after several 49ers players knelt during the anthem. Twitter blew up, President Trump chimed in and them Eric Reid called the move an example of “systemic oppression.”
After the game, Reid ranted: “My honest reaction, first of all, does anybody know the last time he’s been to a football game? OK, with that being said, he tweeted out a 3-year-old photo of him at a Colts game, so with the information that I have, the last time he’s been to a Colts game was three years ago. So this looks like a PR stunt to me. He knew our team has had the most players protest. He knew that we were probably going to do it again. And so, this is what systemic oppression looks like. A man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple things out and leaves the game with an attempt to thwart our efforts. Again, based on the information I have, that’s the assumption that I’ve made.
Pence tweeted an old photo with his wife from a Colts’ game, “I left today’s Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.” — Vice President Pence (@VP) October 8, 2017
Reid was the first player to protest with Colin Kaepernick: “It’s really disheartening when … the vice president of the United States is trying to confuse the message that we’re trying to put out there. This is about systemic oppression that has been rampant in this country decades upon decades. And I will continue to encourage people to educate themselves on how we got to where we are today, because it didn’t happen overnight and it’s not going to happen overnight to fix these issues. So we’re going to keep talking about it.”
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