African Americans must stand in solidarity with protesting black athletes: Researcher

African Americans have a duty to stand up against the persecution of blacks in the United States and act in solidarity with black athletes who protest peacefully against racism, a researcher and historian in Washington says.

Trump on Saturday called on NFL team owners to fire protesting African American athletes who kneel when the US anthem is played to draw attention to persisting police violence against black people.

One African American athlete not only refused to stand for the national anthem, but also rejected an invitation to visit the White House.

Stephen Curry of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors said he would not visit the White House to meet US President Donald Trump since “we don’t stand for” the positions of  Trump.

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The American researcher, Randy Short, told Press TV that the US national anthem was indeed "racist.”

He described the athlete, who was kneeling during the anthem to draw attention to police brutality against African Americans, as a participant in peaceful protests.

Trump's attitude evident in his comments on the matter, however, was ample proof of his hostility and injustice towards the African American athlete protesting to the persecution of black people, Short said.

“Trump's comments show an unfair attitude towards people who protest nonviolently, and he should be as fair towards these athletes as he was towards the neo-Nazis and Klansmen” who staged a deadly protest last month in Charlottesville, Virginia, he added.

The deadly clashes incited by neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other “white terrorist organizations” are a continuation of activities and actions that have "promoted a larger ideology of white supremacy that is as old as the presence of English speaking whites in what we now call America,” Short told PressTV in an earlier phone interview.

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United Nations’ rights experts have warned about the rise of racism in the US.

Experts judge Trump, who has made his true feelings on matters of race clear, as an enforcer of racist ideology.

Many members of his own Republican Party and US business executives are distancing themselves from him over his blatant racism.

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www.presstv.co.uk