News & Commentary

Last month, a group of football players at Westview High School in Beaverton were publicly berated by their coach at their game for kneeling during the national anthem. The coach said he thought their act of protest was disrespectful to the country and to the military. He said that high school players didn’t have a platform like professional football players did and encouraged them to act as a team. At a subsequent game, the coach had the players lock arms to “stand in unity” rather than kneel. In both of these instances, the students’ rights to free speech and expression were violated.