NFL Season Begins With Protests at Texans-Chiefs Game

Before the Kansas City Chiefs began their Super Bowl defense Thursday night against the Houston Texans in the first game of the 2020 NFL season, there was a question for both teams: How would they protest against racism in America?

The answer was complicated. The Texans left the field entirely before both the national anthem and the playing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song sometimes referred to as the Black national anthem. Their demonstration echoed a tense weekend in 2017, when several teams stayed in the locker room after President Trump used a speech to criticize players who kneel during the anthem.

The Chiefs stayed on the field, where one player took a knee and raised a fist during the anthem. When the Texans returned to the field, both teams lined up and linked arms before the coin toss.

That demonstration kicked off a new era in the NFL, which is now embracing the right of player protest after a contentious period of years in which the league discouraged it, once tried to ban it and more broadly tried to root politics off the playing field.

But there are already signs that the players are rejecting aspects of the league’s efforts, as demonstrated by the Texans’ departure during the playing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”