Megan Rapinoe 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 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.

Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't carry just a piece of cloth to symbolize his belief in racial equality; he carried the American flag.

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

And I respect the anthem. I would never kneel for it. We all come from different walks of life and think differently about the anthem and the flag and what that means.

I love my country, By which I mean, I am indebted joyfully, To all the people throughout its history, Who have fought the government to make right, Where so many cunning sons and daughters, Our foremothers and forefathers, Came singing through slaughter, Came through hell and high water, So that we could stand here, And behold breathlessly the sight, How a raging river of tears, Cut a grand canyon of light... Why can't all decent men and women, Call themselves feminists? Out of respect, For those who fought for this...

You will be pleased to know I stand obediently for the national anthem, though of course I would defend your right to remain seated should you so decide.

Americanism is not a matter of skin or color.

The flag is the guarantor and symbol of equality.

Burning the American flag should be punishable by loss of citizenship.

How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates, 'freedom and justice for all,' that is so unjust to so many of the people living there?

I'm here to say all lives matter.

Every day in school, we said the pledge to the flag, 'with liberty and justice for all,' and I believed all that.

What I worry about is, if you are on the side of feeling it's disrespectful to kneel during the anthem, that somehow you're racist, or somehow you're not in favor of bettering this country and finding equality and common ground.

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'll stand for the anthem, I don't have a problem standing for it.

When I represent my country on the field, I do so with heartfelt gratitude to the people who fight for and defend our fundamental freedoms - to believe in whatever I want, to love whoever I want, and to be a valued member of society while doing so. That's the America I play for.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, and I intend to continue to push my country to respect the rights of all its citizens. I will not be silenced.

If we want to be proud to be from a country like America and all the things that we hang our hats on, like diversity, equality, land of the free and home of the brave, it's everybody's responsibility to ensure that everyone in the country is being afforded the same rights.

I was raised to pay respect to the flag. That is a symbol that stands for the men and women who have put their life on the line to protect the liberty and freedom that we have an opportunity to enjoy every single day.

I will never stand for a national anthem again. I will turn my back and I will raise a fist.

The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.

We have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.

You would better educate ten women into the practice of liberal principles than to organize a thousand on a platform of intolerance and bigotry.

It doesn't matter what color, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, etc., everyone should have the same freedoms and liberties.