JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Missouri state senator refused to stand while her colleagues recited the Pledge of Allegiance in the state Capitol.
Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat, said her silent protest Wednesday on the Senate floor was intended to show solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick has kneeled for the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial oppression. Nasheed, who is black, said she wants to call attention to those issues and isn’t “anti-America.” Nasheed’s protest was met with silence in the chamber.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a former GOP candidate for governor who presided over the Senate Wednesday, released a statement calling Nasheed’s protest an “occasion for great sorrow.” He said he worried about “the example she is setting, particularly for our young people.”