Eric Swalwell Quotes

Players who take a knee during the national anthem do so to protest injustice across the country - fulfilling a patriotic duty to never accept injustice, but to call it out when we see it.

I feel in my heart it is right to continue to kneel during the national anthem, and I will do whatever I can to be part of the solution.

I've heard a lot of people say you need white athletes to get involved in the anthem protests. I've said before I'll never kneel for an anthem, because the flag means something different for everybody in this country, but I support my peers.

I think it's important to realize that the players who are protesting aren't protesting the anthem. They're not protesting the flag. People kind of move the goalposts on them and try to tell them what they're protesting. But as they keep saying, that's not what they're protesting.

I urge the citizens of Ferguson who have been peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights to join with law enforcement in condemning the actions of looters, vandals and others seeking to inflame tensions and sow discord.

My house was bugged. They couldn't find any information on me being a subversive because I happen to love America; I just don't like some of the things the government is doing.

I don't think kneeling during the anthem is such a bad thing.

I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully stand up or take a knee for your rights - anytime, anywhere, anyplace.

Anybody who walks out peacefully, who protests peacefully, that's what this country was built on.

If people take a knee, and the National Football League players want to take a knee, they should take a knee at night, every night, and thank God in Heaven Donald J. Trump is president of the United States.

I'm a part of major league rugby. We had a league meeting to decide what to do with anthem protests, and even though I personally agree with what they say they are protesting as inequality and judicial system and incarceration rates among minorities, we decided all should stand and respect every national anthem.

I welcome nonviolent protests as an exercise of our great democracy.

When Colin Kaepernick refuses to stand for the anthem, that's both a sports story and a politics story.

I can understand if you think that I'm disrespecting the flag by kneeling, but it is because of my utmost respect for the flag and the promise it represents that I have chosen to demonstrate in this way.

I just couldn't believe that the police would fire tear gas into what had been a peaceful protest. I was running around, face burning, and nothing I saw looked like America to me.

Flag-burning is plain wrong, and I'll stand up for free speech - even speech I don't like.

Kneeling for the anthem does nothing to advance solutions to racial injustice, police brutality, or any other social plight. It is a slap in the face to patriotism itself. It is a statement that America as a country is no longer worth standing for.

I believe it's not 100 percent right to kneel during the national anthem, because you have to respect what many have done for this nation. I think kneeling prior to the anthem, like the Dallas Cowboys have done, is right.

Our biggest thing is, any player who's protesting will tell you that the only reason we use the anthem is because it's a platform like no other. We use it to draw attention to other issues. We've heard from many people, 'Use a different venue. Use a different platform.' Quite frankly, this is the most effective one.

I've never seen somebody get more flak than Colin Kaepernick for silently and nonviolently protesting and standing up for something he believes, and something that obviously is an actual problem.

I think the most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.'

If a jerk burns the flag, America is not threatened, democracy is not under siege, freedom is not at risk.

Freedom of religion is a principle that is central to our Nation's Declaration of Independence. Congress has taken this positive step to protect our freedom to express allegiance to America's flag and the ideals it represents.

In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.

Burning the flag is a form of expression. Speech doesn't just mean written words or oral words. It could be semaphore. And burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea - I hate the government, the government is unjust, whatever.