Players across the NFL fired back at President Donald Trump by taking a knee, standing or refusing to show up at all for the national anthem before Sunday’s games and again Monday night.

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The protests came after Trump suggested that NFL team owners should fire players who refuse to stand during the anthem, telling a crowd in Alabama on Friday that “that’s a total disrespect for our heritage.”

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first started kneeling during the anthem last year, to protest police violence against minorities. The protest got mixed reactions, but other NFL players -- and players in other sports -- have since followed Kaepernick’s lead to protest inequality.

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Cuthbert is the county seat of Randolph County, one of 94 Georgia counties that registered more deaths than births in 2024. The county's hospital closed in 2020, leaving longtime state Rep. Gerald Greene to drivce himself 46 miles to Albany while suffering from a kidney stone recently. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC