Eight University of Mississippi men’s basketball players knelt during the national anthem Saturday in response to a Confederacy rally near the arena.
Minutes before the game against Georgia, both teams formed lines for the anthem.
As soon as “The Star-Spangled Banner” began, six players from the Rebels took a knee and bowed. Toward the end of the anthem, two teammates joined them.
Ole Miss basketball players took a knee during National Anthem today in protest to nearby pro-confederacy rally ✔️ (via @____wells____) pic.twitter.com/PrfxS78yEz
— Overtime (@overtime) February 23, 2019
The Confederacy demonstration was led by out-of-state protesters a few hundred feet from the arena.
White supremacists are rallying at the University of Mississippi on Saturday.
Here’s video of the 11/28/18 protest against the Ole Miss Confederate statue.
Solidarity with everyone at UM standing up for racial justice.
One way or another, this racist statue is coming down. pic.twitter.com/VgXlWjuDMG
— Move Silent Sam (@Move_Silent_Sam) February 20, 2019
In the aftermath of violence at a similar rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the Oxford community has been on alert.
Various student groups held counter-protests on campus Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, one began on the city square and ended at the Confederate monument in the heart of the Ole Miss campus.
Good for them. A group trying to bring back the confederate flag is holding a march.
This is one way to peacefully protest that, and a sure fire way to bring attention to the issue.
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