Garett Bolles took just the right stance Sunday.
The Denver Broncos’ offensive lineman stood on the sideline in Buffalo with his right hand over his heart and his left hand on the shoulder of kneeling teammate Von Miller. He showed respect for his country, while valuing team unity and honoring the viewpoints of others with different backgrounds.
That’s a remarkably enlightened perspective from Bolles, a rookie from the University of Utah, and that’s how all of us should treat the demonstrations that took place around the NFL.
And whatever approach Jazz players take during the national anthem this season, starting with next Monday’s preseason opener, they should be respected. The Jazz will address the subject in the coming days. The players and coaches likely will do something together again, after standing with their arms around each other last season. Yet fans and everybody involved with the franchise should honor anything a player wants to do individually, if that happens.
The expressions are not anti-flag, anti-military or anti-American. Freedom covers kneeling, as a form of silent protest.
As Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said during the team’s Media Day, it is possible to be “socially aware … yet patriotic.”
The choice is not one or the other. That’s worth remembering, in a world that demands picking a side.
None of the several Jazz players who fielded questions about this subject had a strong opinion, either way. Not even Thabo Sefolosha, who received a $4 million settlement in his police brutality lawsuit against the New York Police Dept., took a firm stance.
“Some I can relate to, some I can’t,” he said of the NFL players.
His experience qualifies him to speak out, as he did last spring after the settlement, saying, “We are all aware that there are still too many cases of police brutality today. So many of these cases go unnoticed or unreported; so many victims do not have the means to fight for justice as I could. It’s unfair. While I alone can’t bring the type of change needed to eliminate these issues, I want to help make a difference.”
Sefolosha, a son of a South Africa father and a Swiss mother, promised to donate a “substantial” portion to an Atlanta-based nonprofit that supports and public defenders around the country.
The Jazzmen all defended the rights of the NFL players to express themselves, and that’s what’s important. “That’s the one thing I definitely can be behind,” Sefolosha said.
“Players have a right to do as they choose. … I have no problem with it,” said veteran forward Joe Johnson, who’s grew up in a city (Little Rock, Ark.) with its own civil rights history.
Lindsey considers himself “uniquely advantaged to view people as people,” considering his own background. Having grown up in Texas, where his parents served as house parents to numerous children in a county youth home and brought foster children into their own home, Lindsey is broad-minded about race and culture.
As his example shows, some degree of understanding is what’s critical here. Few of us in Utah can fully grasp what others have experienced. That’s the further value of having a professional sports franchise such as the Jazz in this state, exposing us to greater diversity.
As the Jazz players visited the Zions Banks Basketball Campus interview room in twosomes Monday, it was striking to think about their backgrounds, aside from all of the Europeans. They’re from places such as Atlanta (Derrick Favors), a rough section of Kansas City (Alec Burks) and Mississippi (Rodney Hood).
Mildly strong words came from Hood, who said of President Donald Trump, “I think somebody needs to take his Twitter account.”
Favors wouldn’t elaborate on his Instagram post of T-shirts with “45” crossed out, symbolizing Trump’s presidency. The Jazz players may have more to say next week. They may not. Either way, that’s their choice.