October 17 – Hertha Berlin’s players and officials became the latest sports team to “take a knee” in support of anti-racism ahead of their 2-0 defeat by Schalke last weekend.
The Bundesliga club copied the protests started by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick against police treatment of black Americans.
Hertha’s starting line-up linked arms and took a knee on the pitch, while the coaching staff and club officials did the same off the pitch.
“Hertha BSC stands for tolerance and responsibility! For a tolerant Berlin and an open-minded world, now and forevermore!” the club said on Twitter.
The stadium announcer told more than 50,000 fans attending the game at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, originally built for the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany: “Hertha Berlin stands for diversity and against violence. For this reason we are joining the protest of American athletes and setting a sign against discrimination.”
Kaepernick started his protest last year when he knelt as the American national anthem was played during a pre-season American football game in 2016. He explained his gesture was to highlight racial injustice and police brutality against African Americans and was followed up by a number of other NFL players in the US doing the same.
The act of ‘taking a knee’ has been widespread this season in protest against US president Donald Trump’s racially driven social policies. Trump has aggressively condemned the protests. Perhaps not surprisingly, Kaepernick, who is out of contract, has failed to find a new NFL team.
Hertha’s Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou said the whole team was unanimous in its support for the initiative. “We stand against racists and that’s our way of sharing that. We are always going to fight against this kind of behaviour, as a team and as a city,” said Kalou.
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