{"id":32926,"date":"2016-10-03T13:32:02","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T18:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=32926"},"modified":"2016-10-03T13:32:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T18:32:02","slug":"booker-t-takes-stand-regarding-colin-kaepernick-discusses-race-issues-first-amendment-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/10\/03\/booker-t-takes-stand-regarding-colin-kaepernick-discusses-race-issues-first-amendment-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Booker T takes a stand regarding Colin Kaepernick, discusses race issues and First Amendment protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3606463898\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p class=\"p1\">Colin Kaepernick&#8217;s kneeling during the National Anthem before San Francisco 49ers games brought the issue of race to the forefront of what is normally &#8220;escapist entertainment.&#8221; It hasn&#8217;t been an issue in WWE, although Booker T did express qualified support for\u00a0Kaepernick&#8217;s actions, saying he brought attention to an important topic. He said his choice is to stand for the National Anthem, though.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI stand for the National Anthem,\u201d Booker\u00a0told <a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2016\/10\/03\/wwe-booker-t-huffman-racism-national-anthem-protest\">Sports Illustrated in a new article<\/a> published\u00a0today. \u201cI\u2019m not Colin Kaepernick. That\u2019s enough as far as the kneeling should go, because racial injustice needs to be dealt with, and Colin Kaepernick started the conversation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Booker says freedom of speech, as guaranteed in the First Amendment, includes protesting.\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">\u201cEverybody has the right of freedom of speech in the First Amendment, and we need to respect that,\u201d Booker\u00a0said. \u201cProtesters need to speak up at the loudest time where it\u2019s going to get the most ears and attention. Kaepernick is protesting from a peaceful standpoint, and I\u2019ve got to commend him for that, and he\u2019s putting his money where his mouth is [by promising to donate $1 million to organizations that address social issues and racial inequality]. If we had more guys \u2013 the guys who call themselves stars \u2013 who were willing to do more than talk, but instead walk the walk like Kaepernick, then the world would be a better place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He said peaceful protesting brings attention to important issues and is the right approach to take, compared to some alternatives.\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">\u201cStarting a discussion is a lot better than burning down buildings, trashing police cars, or tearing up your own neighborhood,\u201d Booker said. \u201cSitting down at a table, talking about it, and trying to find a solution is the proper way to go about it. We need all sides\u2014blacks, whites, Hispanics, everyone\u2014if we want to eradicate that problem&#8230;\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"s1\">\u201cIf we truly want to make America great, we need to fix this racial inequality. We\u2019ll have a never-ending war if we continue to go down this road.\u00a0One thing that black people need to understand is the same thing that white people need to understand \u2013 neither one of us, black or white, are going anywhere. We have to live with each other, and we need to fix this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Booker noted that Randy Orton was on his podcast recently and spoke about this issue.\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">\u201cJust for a minute, Randy Orton took a step back and said, \u2018Maybe I don\u2019t know what people are going through because I\u2019m not walking in their shoes,\u2019\u201d Huffman recalled. \u201cYou can speculate, but until you have walked in those shoes, you just don\u2019t know. People should step back and look at this, even for a minute, from someone else\u2019s perspective\u2014and listen. Then come up with a conclusion after you\u2019ve actually sat and talked about it, instead of making your decision before you even sit down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Booker says life experience is different for different people, and this conversation is shining a light on that.\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">\u201cMost people who are not of color, their parents didn\u2019t need to tell them how to act around police or what to do if they ever got pulled over,\u201d explained Huffman. \u201cNever, not once. We are taught that in the black neighborhoods. I\u2019ve been profiled and pulled over, so it\u2019s not like I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve experienced it, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m speaking up. We listened to Donald Trump speak at the debate about \u2018Stop and Frisk.\u2019 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a good way to go through life. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to solve any of our problems. It\u2019s actually going to make racial tension a whole lot worse, and it\u2019s going to make us feel like we\u2019re singled out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He also commented on the history of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump when it comes to race issues. Read the full article by Justin Barrasso here:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2016\/10\/03\/wwe-booker-t-huffman-racism-national-anthem-protest\"><span class=\"s1\">WWE Hall of Famer Booker T on racial inequality, Colin Kaepernick and the election<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Booker T also wrote a book &#8220;From Prison to Promise,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s\/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=booker+t+prison+to+promise\">available at Amazon here<\/a>.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-66294169\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">You can listen to Wade Keller &amp; Bruce Mitchell interview Booker T regarding\u00a0that book in a 2012 PWTorch Livecast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogtalkradio.com\/pro-wrestling-torch\/2012\/10\/19\/pwtorch-livecast\">CLICK TO LISTEN<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2186852016\"><div id=\"pwtor-4234746734\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Colin Kaepernick&#8217;s kneeling during the National Anthem before San Francisco 49ers games brought the issue of race to the forefront of what is normally &#8220;escapist entertainment.&#8221; It hasn&#8217;t been an issue in WWE, although Booker <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/10\/03\/booker-t-takes-stand-regarding-colin-kaepernick-discusses-race-issues-first-amendment-protests\/\" title=\"Booker T takes a stand regarding Colin Kaepernick, discusses race issues and First Amendment protests\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[559,3948,73],"class_list":["post-32926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_wwe","tag-booker-t","tag-colin-kaepernick","tag-randy-orton"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/10\/BookerT_BookCover_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32929,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32926\/revisions\/32929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}