A Florida sheriff’s office will no longer escort the Miami Dolphins to their football games until the team stands for the national anthem.
The local police union behind the Broward County Sheriff’s Office is refusing to provide police escorts for the Miami Dolphins to to their games until the team forces its players to stand for the national anthem, The Miami Herald reports.
“I respect their right to have freedom of speech,” Jeffery Bell, president of the International Union of Police Associations, Local 6020 said to The Miami Herald. “However, in certain organizations and certain jobs you give up that right of your freedom of speech temporary while you serve that job or while you play in an NFL game.”
The Dolphins have been in the news for refusing to stand for the national anthem, when four of their players kneeled during a game to protest racial oppression against the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday, NBC 6 Miami reported.
The Dolphins’ players took a cue from San Francisco 49ers player Colin Kaepernick, who is still making headlines for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial oppression.
The Dolphins released a statement last week saying that it “encourages” players to stand, but respects the rights of those players who refuse to stand.
— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) September 11, 2016
Three of the four players who kneeled during the Sept. 11 game against the Seahawks are leaning toward standing at this weekend’s game against the Patriots, The Herald reported.
