for nate. yeah. unity, we used that word a lot tonight. that s something i learned in both my tours overseas. but is what i want to say is i honor bly stand next to all my fellow americans during the anthem. but after the fact, i would stand next to anybody that wants to peacefully protest for the racial injustice anyone is experiencing. my question is simple. protesting the national anthem is adding fuel to a fire that was created by a few hateful people who think they are superior because of their white skin color or job title. how can we as a country use another platform to achieve our goals but not disrespect something so many people, including myself, hold so dear? it s tough. good question. action, man, 100%. that s where we re at now. everyone is aware.
other s humanity. i think that s what they were talking about. we have this superiority thing has got us jacked up. and i also think that what donald trump has done, you want to say his name, he s given a lot of these crazy people the green light who were under the surface and now coming out full-blown with their hate. nate, one of the things you said about serving overseas, you know, you were serving in other cultures. you re there to help the people of afghanistan, the afghan government. you may not understand or even like a lot of the stuff you see, but you have to put yourself in their shoes. i think that s such an important thing even here at home to walk in someone else s shoes. absolutely. that s something we just really struggle with too as a country. we don t even want to listen. we don t even want to empathize with the other side. and it s always about sides. that s the biggest issue.
got to look at it. in our world, that s where the league is trying to do, where s the balance. can i say this, heinz? all respect, my brother. the players are different from management and the owners. and they are the people that are running things. yes, but there s two sides, though. there s two sides. there s one side that s trying to say social injustice and trying to make equality for this, and then there s a side that they look at the flag and whatever that flag represents to you, so be it, but then there s a lot of people that really just want to play football. they don t want to have to pick sides. they just wants to play football, the game they loved doing as a child, the game they make a lot of money to provide for their families from where they come from. a lot of those players are frustrated because they feel like they have to choose. nate, i want to ask you. you re a former green beret, served from 2005 to 2015 am i right? yes. you wrote a public
[ laughter ] i want to introduce i want everyone to meet bran dden romb who did combat tours in iraq and afghanistan. he survived a ied attack in afghanistan and lost both his legs. thank you for your service and thank you very much for being here. thank you. [ applause ] i think you have a question for nate. yeah. ewety, we ve used that word a lot tonight. i think that s something i learned in both my tours overseas. but what i want to say is i would honorably stand next to all my fellow americans during the anthem. but after the fact, i would stand next to anybody that wants to peacefully protest for the racial injustice anyone is experiencing. my question is simple. protesting the national anthem
make a lot of money to provide for their families from where they come from. a lot of those players are frustrated because they feel like they have to choose. nate, i want to ask you. you re a former green beret, served from 2005 to 2015 am i right? yes, you wrote a public letter to colin kaepernick and he responded. you communicated with him, correct? right yeah. he originally was sitting during the national anthem. that upset you. i m wondering what you said to him. a lot of you point to you that suggested he take a knee rather than sit. it wasn t necessarily the gesture itself. that was the first person publicly protesting the anthem that i recognized, that i noticed. i m a niner fan and it hurt because of my personal relationship with the flag. it s draped over coffins of our fallen brothers and sisters and it s folded and handed to a