Read on Twitter
On a serious note... https://bit.ly/3lMbJkP a thread 1/
Last night several Denfeld players also knelt during the national anthem prior to our game https://bit.ly/32VCKcW 2/
As expected, this morning the comments section on local news stories for both our game and the Cloquet girls game are littered with nasty insults and condemnations of the behavior of those players. 3/
Who knows how many commenters are foreign bots trying to turn a kids' soccer game into a collapse of American society, or just the human equivalent of bots, incapable of having an intelligent and thoughtful conversation. 4/
Several of those comments imply that @MshlSocGameDay should have refused to play last night, and that @ToppersSports girls soccer should refuse to play Cloquet today when they kneel. 5/
This account does not speak officially for either team, the athletic department, or the school. But in support of other teams in our area, I feel those derisive comments and insults directed at kids deserve a thoughtful response... 6/
Unlike those commenters, @DuluthMarshall believes in Consitutional rights, specifically the 1st Amendment right to free speech and free assembly. It is a concept encouraged and enforced throughout the school's curriculum and community. 7/
It may be entirely possible that not every student, staff member, or parent at @DuluthMarshall considers kneeling during the national anthem to be a "respectful" means of protesting the treatment of Black Americans, but nobody would argue it is not peaceful. 8/
At @DuluthMarshall students are ecouraged to discuss their political and socioeconomic differences in a thoughtful and peaceful manner. 9/
Kneeling during the national anthem- supported by thousands of current and former members of the military, who have sacrifced far more for their country than the drones who believe "courage" is anonomyously insulting kids on social media- is both peaceful and respectful. 10/
The US is the only country which routinely plays its anthem before sporting events of all kinds. The act of kneeling is not a politically volatile behavior; simply playing the anthem, when there is no justification for doing so, is. 11/
As a @DuluthMarshall parent and as a @MshlSocGameDay parent, I 100% stand behind the constitutional right of any kid to kneel during the playing of an anthem. You might frown upon it, but if you deny them that right, you are more unpatriotic than they are. 12/
I respect the emotions of others who might erroneously think kneeling is insulting, even if those who do clearly have not asked members of the military and their families, who they pretend to honor and defend in their arguments, if they feel that is the case. 13/
There may be students, staff, or parents at @DuluthMarshall who have issues with the act. But at @DuluthMarshall, that act is a doorway to a respectful face-to-face discussion, not an excuse to fire cowardly insults at kids behind the anonymity of social media. 14/
Slandering kids on social media is a disgraceful and thoughtless act. Posting this thread won't keep it from happening, but it should be called out for the cowardice it is. Those that do are not brave or patriotic; they are scared. 15/
Again, this account doesn't speak for @ToppersSports , @DuluthMarshall, or its girls soccer team. But I strongly suspect none of the players or coaches on either soccer team will refuse to play over an opponent kneeling during the anthem. 16/
The idea that any kid right now would walk away from a chance to play, after so many adults adbicated responsibility during this pandemic and left them mired in a situation where the season could end any day, demonstrates only naivity and ignorance. 17/
If anybody would like to debate this in a respectful and peaceful manner, I know the doors are always open at @DuluthMarshall to come see what it is all about. 18/
If you just want to sling mud on social media at kids, people at @DuluthMarshall aren't going to take you seriously. You can keep doing it, maybe you'll feel better about yourself and within your echo chamber, but you're just exposing yourself for how small a person you are. 19/
Lastly, @DHS_Bsoccer and @CloquetGirls, don't ever stop speaking your minds and acting your hearts. This @MshlSocGameDay account supports you 100%. 20/
The world will be a better place someday when you are leading us, and these Internet trolls pout in their darkened houses posting on irrelevant dark web message boards about the good old days when kids didn't care. They will not matter then, and they don't matter now. end/
