Texas HS Football Players Kicked Off Team For Anthem Protest
Two Texas high school football players were kicked off their team after they protested the anthem during their football game.
Two Crosby, Texas football players were removed from their football team after they protested the national anthem. Cedric Ingram-Lewis and his cousin Larry McCullough play for Two Victory and raise Christian Academy in Crosby, Texas. The players were told to turn in their jerseys after they protested the national anthem before their game on Friday. Their coach is a former marine who says he warned the students before the game to not protest during the anthem. Coach Ronnie Mitchem says that he supports his players protesting at other times. Coach Mitchem says he encouraged his players to hand out flyers, kneel after a touchdown or in other ways. One player raised his fist, while the other took a knee during the anthem. Coach Mitchem told the Houston Chronicle that he finds the protesting during the national anthem offensive to veterans.
"I'm a former Marine. That just doesn't fly and they knew that. I don't have any problem with those young men. We've had a good relationship. They chose to do that and they had to pay for the consequences."
Cedric Ingram-Lewis said that after his and his cousin's protest their coach told them that "disrespect will not be tolerated" and to take off their uniforms and leave them. Cedric Ingram-Lewis' mother, Rhonda Brady, said she supported her on and his cousin in their decision to protest the anthem. The mother also said that she believed the coach's response to the boys' protest was "out of line." The mother says she does to want the boys back on the team under the supervision of the coach.