Sam Coonrod has taken a stand against the Black Lives Matter movement.
The San Francisco Giants pitcher refused to kneel with his teammates in a showing of support for the Black Lives Matter movement Thursday, stating his religion and his personal feelings about BLM wouldn’t allow him to do it.
Via SF Chronicle:
“I’m a Christian,” the 27-year-old relief pitcher said, “so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God.”
The second-year Giants reliever also said he does not agree with some of what he has heard about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I’m a Christian, like I said, and I just can’t get on board with a couple of things that I have read about Black Lives Matter,” Coonrod said. “How they lean toward Marxism and they’ve said some negative things about the nuclear family. I just can’t get on board with that.”
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Coonrod said he meant “no ill will” by his gesture … and added, “I’m not mad at someone who decided to kneel. I just don’t think it’s too much to ask that I just get the same respect.”
Manager Gabe Kapler — who not only knelt for the BLM moment but also during the national anthem — said he respected Coonrod’s decision to opt out.
“The one thing that we said is we were going to let people express themselves,” Kapler said. “We were going to give them the choice on whether they were going to stand, kneel or do something else. That was a personal decision for Sam.”
