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As many NFL players find ways to protest during the National Anthem, one owner is offering an incentive to stand.
Detroit Lions owner Martha Ford—who locked arms with players last Sunday—is ready for the Lions to stop kneeling, and she is willing to donate to the players’ charity of choice if they stand.
“She just asked us not to take the knee and basically told us—not basically, she told us she would back and support financially as well as put her name on whatever issues that we wanted to try to attack,” Lions defensive end Cornelius Washington told the Detroit Free Press.
https://twitter.com/lions_fanly/status/914621152823332869
Washington said that he thinks Ford’s goal is to help aid change. “But as far as the kneeling, she just I guess felt like there was better ways to get the point across. And at this point, people know what we’re kneeling for, so now trying to take that next step in the plan of action to foster change is, that’s the next part and that’s the part she’s willing to get behind,” he continued.
At Sunday’s game, two Lions—linebackers Steve Longa and Jalen Reeves-Maybin—knelt during the anthem before a victory against the Minnesota Vikings. The rest of the players stood and linked arms.
