A singer in California has stirred up controversy after kneeling as she sang the national anthem Monday night at a Sacramento Kings basketball game.
CBS 13 in Sacramento reported that Leah Tysse, a breast cancer survivor from Berkeley, was invited to sing the anthem as part of a program designed to raise awareness of the disease and honor survivors. Video from the event shows that Tysse had made it through most of the anthem when, during the line, "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave," she dropped to a knee on the word "brave."
Some of the breast cancer survivors in the audience were not happy.
"She took something away from us that night," survivor Sonia Susac told CBS 13.
Susac said Tysse’s actions turned the night into a political statement and took the focus off of the survivors there.
"It was supposed to be about healing, awareness and promoting the cause, and promoting helping women," she told the news station. "And instead, we were talking about something completely different today."
Tysse was also lambasted on YouTube, where CBS 13 posted its segment. Many of the comments were expletive-filled rants against the Black Lives Matter movement, for which kneeling during the anthem has become a symbol of support.
Others accused the singer of seeking attention for herself.
"A no-name singer from Berkley taking a knee while singing our 'national anthem?' What a surprise," wrote one man. "I'd bet money she did this more for the attention than for the lives of black Americans. She got her 15 minutes of fame, now she can fade away."
Tysse took to her Facebook page to explain why she did what she did. She wrote that America cannot have a dialogue about race until Americans recognize the existence of white privilege and institutionalized racism.
“This act embodies the conflict many of us feel. I love and honor my country as deeply as anyone yet it is my responsibility as an American to speak up against injustice as it affects my fellow Americans,” she wrote. “I have sung the anthem before but this time taking a knee felt like the most patriotic thing I could do. I cannot idly stand by as black people are unlawfully profiled, harassed and killed by our law enforcement over and over and without a drop of accountability.”
Not all who saw Tysse's act of solidarity were angry. Kings fan Karla Mendoza told CBS 13 that she was not bothered by it.
"She wants to kneel, let her kneel," Mendoza said. "She sees disparities, there are disparities."
Mendoza said a person can make a statement while still respecting the U.S.
"I love this country; it doesn't mean that I disagree with the people kneeling," she said.
The Kings organization agreed.
“We respect the personal decision of Leah Tysse to exercise her freedom of speech,” read a statement given to the news station.
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