XPost: alt.niggers, alt.politics.democrats, sac.politics
XPost: alt.disney

A U.S. hammer thrower turned away from the American flag as she
stood on the medal podium at the Olympic trials during the
national anthem on Saturday, saying she’s “pissed” the Star-
Spangled Banner was played as she received her bronze medal.

Gwen Berry — who qualified for her second U.S. Olympic team
during the trials — shifted to face the stands rather than the
flag before holding up a black shirt that reads “Activist
Athlete.”

“I feel like it was a set-up, and they did it on purpose,” Berry
said of the timing of the anthem. “I was pissed, to be honest.”

“They had enough opportunities to play the national anthem
before we got up there,” Berry said in Oregon, where the trials
are being held. “I was thinking about what I should do.
Eventually I stayed there and I swayed, I put my shirt over my
head. It was real disrespectful.”

Berry went on to call the playing of the national anthem a “set
up” and that she didn’t plan on staging a protest.

‘”I didn’t really want to be up there,” she said. “Like I said,
it was a setup. I was hot, I was ready to take my pictures and
get into some shade.”

And so, while winner DeAnna Price and second-place finisher
Brooke Andersen stood still on the podium with their hands over
the hearts and stared straight ahead at the American and Oregon
flags, Berry fidgeted and paced on the third step. Then turned
away. And finally grabbed her T-shirt.

“They said they were going to play it before we walked out, then
they played it when we were out there,” Berry said. “But I don’t
really want to talk about the anthem because that’s not
important. The anthem doesn’t speak for me. It never has.”

“My purpose and my mission is bigger than sports,” Berry said.
“I’m here to represent those … who died due to systemic racism.
That’s the important part. That’s why I’m going. That’s why I’m
here today.”

A USA Track and Field rep disputed Berry’s characterization of
the anthem playing.

“The national anthem was scheduled to play at 5:20 p.m. today,”
said spokeswoman Susan Hazzard. “We didn’t wait until the
athletes were on the podium for the hammer throw awards. The
national anthem is played every day according to a previously
published schedule.”

Unlike at the Olympics, the national anthem is not played during
medal ceremonies at the Olympic trials. It has been played once
per day at a set time. On Saturday, the music started at 5:25.

Berry’s Star Spangled-sub rankled several online commentators.

“We’re going to see more of this,” said author and activist
Dinesh D’Souza.

“It’s going to make patriotic Americans cheer for foreign
competitors and against the anti-American Americans.”

“What is wrong with people?” wondered former Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker.

“Growing up, everyone stood for the American flag. Didn’t matter
your politics, race, sex, income, religion; everyone stood for
the flag. It was one of those civic rituals that brought us
together,” he added. “It still should today.”

Radio talk host Mark Davis says Berry “needs to learn that it’s
not about the anthem ‘speaking for her,’ it’s about a moment of
gratitude for this country that makes her Olympic dream
possible.”

“Shameful self-absorption,” he added.

This isn’t the first time Berry has caused controversy.

US Olympic athletes were prohibited in January 2020 from making
political statements during anthems, after Berry was put on
probation for raising her fist during the Pan-American Games in
Peru in August 2019. US Olympic and Paralympic Committee in
April reversed course, allowing kneeling and other forms of
protests during the national anthem.

Berry’s protest follows a long line of professional athletes
–Olympic and otherwise — using the national anthem as a tool to
protest racism.

Most famously, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two black track and
field athletes, raised their fists, each clad in a black glove,
as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played while they stood on the
podium.

More recently, NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016 began
taking a knee when the national anthem played before games, to
protest police brutality.

-With Post wires

https://nypost.com/2021/06/27/olympic-hammer-thrower-gwen-berry- turns-back-to-us-flag/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)