High School Football Announcer: Stand for National Anthem or You Should Be Shot
District Condemns Remarks from Alabama Pastor
A high school football announcer in South Alabama told a crowd Friday night that those who didn’t stand for the national anthem should be shot.Â
The announcer was Pastor Allen Joyner of Sweet Home Baptist Church, who made the comment prior to a game in McKenzie, a town of just 500 not far from the Florida Panhandle, AL.com reports.Â
“If you don’t want to stand for the national anthem, you can line up over there by the fence and let our military personnel take a few shots at you since they’re taking shots for you,” Joyner said, according to Facebook post from Denise Crowley-Whitfield (above).
Joyner’s church later praised his comments on Facebook — in a post that’s since been removed:Â
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Joyner’s comment was of course in response to San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest racism in America.Â
The local school superintendent condemned Joyner’s remarks, but it’s unclear whether any action will be taken against him.Â
Meanwhile, in another reminder that high school football often brings out the worst in people, students at Colleyville Heritage High School near Dallas — which is mostly white and affluent — used this Donald Trump wall banner during a pep rally Friday to taunt their opponents from a more ethnically diverse school, Trinity High:Â
The good news? Trinity High won the game.Â

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