On Sunday night, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall changed his pre-game routine: For the first time this season, he remained standing for the national anthem.
Marshall was one of the first NFL players to join San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee during the anthem to protest racism, police brutality, and social injustice. He announced on Instagram Sunday night that he would be standing during the anthem from now on, thanks primarily to the news that the Denver Police Department is rewriting its use-of-force policy.
ThinkProgress has been tracking the spread of anthem protests since Kaepernick began the movement in August. So far, the protests have spread to at least 48 NFL players, nine NBA teams, 14 WNBA players, one gold medal swimmer, one pro women’s soccer player, 52 high schools, 39 colleges, one middle school, and two youth football teams in 35 states across the United States, along with Brazil, Canada, and England.
While the protests have been highly controversial — Marshall alone has lost two endorsement deals and been subjected to relentless social media harassment because of his stance — they have also spurred important, difficult conversations about race relations and police brutality on a local and national level.
Most of the critics of the protests see them only as symbolic and distracting, but Marshall has been determined from the outset to make sure he did much more than take a knee. He has donated $300 for each tackle he makes this season to organizations in the Denver community that address racial inequality, and plans to continue those donations.
He has also met with Denver police multiple times in recent months, particularly Chief Robert White.
White was in charge of revamping the department’s use-of-force policy. He told the Denver Post that the rewritten policy encourages officers to use as little force as necessary and provides specific situational guidelines for them to follow.
“I’m of the opinion it’s just not good enough for officers to take legal actions, but they also need to make sure those actions are absolutely necessary,” White said. “That’s where we are going.”
Last week, Marshall shared the Denver police’s announcement along with a quote by President Barack Obama: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
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Marshall says that going forward, he will be working closely with the Idriss Shelby Foundation, an organization in the Oakland area that provides free assistance and support to victims of police brutality.
“Just because I am standing doesn’t mean the work will end,” Marshall wrote. “There’s much work to be done. I’ll continue to recognize and support organizations that are stepping up as leaders and making a real difference in our community, and I will do my part to be there for those in need.”
