Rodney Axson Jr. believes the sports credo: Team is family — sacrifice, dedication and unity are its values. But before the Sept. 2 Brunswick High School football game, the senior quarterback heard teammates using racial slurs in the locker room. Although he called them out, Axson felt like he needed to do more. So the 17-year-old took a knee during the national anthem just as San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had done 24 hours earlier in one of several protests against racial injustice by athletes throughout the nation. Axson continues to kneel in prayer for every game and shares with us the importance of taking a stand for the things we believe in.
As I was getting dressed, I overheard behind me two teammates of mine say, “We’re going to call them the N-word every chance we get.”
I turned around and I confronted them about it. I said, “No, that’s not OK. You don’t say that. That’s ignorant.” They replied, “It’s not directed toward you, so you can stay out of it.”
That’s when I decided that maybe I should take the knee.
It was hurtful. Your team works all season together. You build a bond and become family. In a matter of seconds you can hear something like that and your whole perspective of who that person is and how they really feel can just change.
None of us deserve to be treated differently or spoken to in a different manner. If we were all treated equal, things like that would not be said. That’s why I took the knee, to try to prove a point that this isn’t fair.
I’m doing something that’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than Brunswick. It’s for younger African-Americans. We can make a change, so they don’t have to go through the same things.
The positive feedback I’ve been getting is amazing. I’ve been getting mail from people, tweets, and it just means a lot to me. With the amount of friends I’ve gained, I lost two times more. I’ve lost a lot of friends at school, and it’s weird. It feels like I’m living in a bubble sometimes. I’ve had a lot of people on Twitter coming at me saying I’m ignorant, and I should leave the country if I don’t like it. I’ve also had threats.
I use #LoveYall behind every tweet. At the end of the day, I can’t hate them. I still love those people who are behind this whole situation, because I have love for everybody. You have to love your neighbors as you love yourself. We should all love each other. — as told to James Bigley II
Rodney Axson Jr. Took a Knee to Stand Up
After hearing a string of racial slurs in his own locker room, the Brunswick High School football player took action.
