If they understand what their demonstration means, students have the right to fight injustice.
For two weekends in a row, the Woodrow Wilson football team has "taken a knee" during the playing of the national anthem at the start of their high school football game.
Nobody was killed or injured from the players' actions. The events of the past three days in New York and North Jersey can help us keep in perspective some things that we need to be more upset about. A bunch of high school kids emulating the protest stance of their pro-football heroes doesn't make the cut.
This coming weekend, the team may stand during the song, their coach said. Still, one wonders if the students realize how offensive their gesture might be to veterans and others in their community. It's schools like Wilson, located in urban areas like Camden, that tend to have lost the most former students to combat deaths in modern wars.
As long as student athletes understand the "why" behind their silent statement, they should go for it. They shouldn't be shamed or disciplined. Urban policing, its occasional excesses and, yes, racism, are things they live with every day. But it would be a shame if the players viewed their action similarly to wearing the shoe brand that their favorite college or pro player endorses. Imitation is not the sincerest form of civil disobedience.
At Wilson, coach Preston Brown seems to be the catalyst. Brown's serious knowledge of history and his impact on the Tigers' team bode well for his players having discussed why they might figuratively boycott a national song or flag. It would be more reassuring, though, to learn that the idea was a grass roots preference of the players, not the wish of an authority figure. (Brown is also the school's dean of culture and climate.)
First Amendment rights get tricky in high-school settings. Public school students clearly have such rights, but the privilege of playing interscholastic sports adds complications. Can a coach bench a player who violates a dress code for when the team is out in public? How about a player who repeatedly curses out the coaching staff? Most people would say, yes, a coach must maintain that degree of discipline and control. There are no absolute answers. The best that school districts can do is make sure their policies are clear.
Over at Camden Catholic, and other Diocese of Camden high schools, however, players were warned that they'd be suspended from the team if they did not stand for the national anthem. "We are not public institutions and free speech in all of its demonstrations, including protests, is not a guaranteed right," said Diocese Superintendent Mary P. Boyle in a statement.
We hope, in that case, it's been made clear that the "guaranteed right(s)" to which Boyle referred are those of the diocese, not the ones in the Constitution. There can't be any compromise on those.
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