Press "Enter" to skip to content

Nasheed plans to continue ‘fighting injustice’

ST. LOUIS – Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, will be the featured guest on Sunday’s episode of This Week in Missouri Politics where she will discuss her motivations behind sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance during veto session.

Black athletes in professional football and women’s basketball, most notably, have kneeled during the national anthem to protest inequities against African-Americans, especially by police officers, for the past few weeks. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started the trend during the NFL preseason by kneeling during the anthem instead of standing. Even some high school teams have joined.

Nasheed said during the taping of Sunday’s episode that she sat to protest injustices not just committed against the black community but against millions of other Americans, criticizing Republican along the way.

“Even in the state of Missouri, we have Republicans that are trying to do all they can to turn back the clock on the voting rights movement,” she said. “They’re trying to do all they can to stop individuals from having quality healthcare. Women are not equally paid to men here in the United States of America.

“I love America, make no mistake about it, I love my country,” she continued. “But at the end of the day, we have a stain in our country that needs to be clean. It was about shining the light on the injustices that are occurring not just in the state of Missouri but around the country.”

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Republican nominee for governor Eric Greitens both opposed Nasheed’s protest.

“Any politician who gets elected by the American people to serve them and gets paid by them to do their work should stand up and give our flag, our country, and our people the respect they deserve,” Greitens said in a statement last week.

Still, that does not mean that Nasheed will stop her protest. When asked if she would protest again, Nasheed said she would “continue to do what is in the best interest when it comes to fighting injustice,” but said she was unsure if that meant sitting down again.

One thing is for certain: Nasheed said she did not regret the decision to sit.

 

PHOTO/TRAVIS ZIMPFER