Giants’ Gabe Kapler to skip national anthem in wake of mass shooting

Before the Giants faced the Reds on Friday in Cincinnati, San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler told reporters he didn’t plan on coming onto the field for the national anthem after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting at a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, just three days ago. 

Kapler added that will continue to be his plan until he feels “better about the direction of our country.” 

Earlier on Friday, Kapler went to his blog and wrote that he “felt like a coward” for standing during the national anthem prior to his team’s game against the Mets on Wednesday in San Francisco, which took place a day after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. 

Kapler wrote about his feelings toward America, gun violence and the Uvalde massacre. In the post, he explained his father told him to stand for the pledge of allegiance when he thought the country was representing its people well and not to stand during times when it was not. 

It’s not the first time Kapler has made a statement with his actions. In 2020, Kapler and several Giants players kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. 

“We weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free,” Kapler wrote on his blog on Friday. “The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops. We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills.” 

In his post, Kapler reflected on the shooting as Metallica played the “Star-Spangled Banner” on Wednesday at Oracle Park. 

“Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I’m participating in a self congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place. On Wednesday, I walked out onto the field, I listened to the announcement as we honored the victims in Uvalde. I bowed my head. I stood for the national anthem. Metallica riffed on City Connect guitars,” Kapler wrote. 

He said his inner voice was telling him not to stand for the national anthem, but his body decided against it. 

“My brain said drop to a knee; my body didn’t listen,” Kapler continued. “I wanted to walk back inside; instead I froze. I felt like a coward. I didn’t want to call attention to myself. I didn’t want to take away from the victims or their families. There was a baseball game, a rock band, the lights, the pageantry. I knew that thousands of people were using this game to escape the horrors of the world for just a little bit. I knew that thousands more wouldn’t understand the gesture and would take it as an offense to the military, to veterans, to themselves. 

“But I am not OK with the state of this country. I wish I hadn’t let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this.”