SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) – Eric Reid said he hopes that the criticism President Donald Trump directed at NFL players protesting during the national anthem will help bring awareness to the issues that former San Francisco 49ers teammate Colin Kaepernick hoped to raise when he began his protest last year.
Kaepernick sat during the national anthem because of police brutality and racial discrimination and the protest grew with a handful of other players like Reid joining Kaepernick. It became much more extensive Sunday when the 49ers had the day off.
More than 200 NFL players kneeled or raised fists during the anthem and almost three entire teams stayed in the locker room in response to Trump saying NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the anthem and describing those protesters with the term “son of a bitch.”
“I was confused,” Reid said Wednesday. “I didn’t really understand why he said what he said. It’s obviously frustrating. I think he gave us the opportunity to make something positive come out of it.”
Reid said some of the issues he and Kaepernick are concerned about are police brutality against minorities, social injustice, unfair incarceration rates for minorities and a bail system that keeps many people locked up before they have been convicted of a crime.