XPost: alt.niggers, alt.politics.democrats, rec.sport.olympics   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: nigger-lovers@disney.com   
      
   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   
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