Chiefs’ Alex Okafor kneels for national anthem, then fans boo ‘moment of unity’
Chiefs defensive end Alex Okafor dropped to one knee during the national anthem before Thursday’s NFL kickoff game, raising his right fist into the air as two teammates placed their hands on his shoulders.
And then a portion of the fans at Arrowhead Stadium reminded everyone of the reason for his silent protest.
Okafor, who wrote a guest column for The Star describing the pain he experienced following the police killings of Black men, was the only Chiefs player to kneel before a game the Chiefs won 34-20. Several others locked arms as the song played. The Texans did not come out of the locker room for the anthem.
Afterward, just before kickoff, players from both teams met on the field, joining arm in arm for a “moment of unity” that stood up to its name on the field — but not in the stands. A scatter of boos mixed into the cheers at Arrowhead Stadium, which is hosting approximately 16,000 fans during the pandemic.
Both head coaches said they did not notice the boos, a point quarterback Patrick Mahomes made, too. But Mahomes acknowledged seeing videos after the game in which they were present, interrupting a moment he had helped orchestrate through conversations with Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson during the week.
“Being down there, I honestly didn’t hear a lot of booing. I’ve seen a little bit of the video after,” Mahomes said. “I’m just — we wanted to show unity, and we wanted to show we’re going to come together and fight the good fight. I hope our fans support us like they do in the game every single day.”
Each team had player meetings to determine its method of protesting social justice. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said they emphasized every player would be supported in his own gesture, a reference to Okafor’s choice to kneel during the anthem.
But the two teams elected to separate the “moment of unity” from the anthem, a seemingly innocent moment in which players and coaches met halfway across the field and stood side by side, their arms joined.
“The booing was unfortunate during that moment,” Texans star J.J. Watt told reporters in his postgame Zoom call, as quoted by members of the media who participated in that call. “I don’t fully understand that. There was no flag involved. There was nothing involved in that other than two teams coming together to show unity.”
They weren’t the only boos.
Earlier during the pregame routine, the stadium and NBC’s national broadcast played “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a song performed by Alicia Keys as video of the Black Lives Matter movement played on the scoreboard and TVs alike. Chiefs players locked arms during that song, too, stretching the length of the end zone.
After the video and song concluded, as players departed for the locker room, they were greeted by a mixture of boos and cheers.
The Texans were also not on the field for that rendition, with NBC Sports reporting they did not want to make it seem as if they were supporting one song while “throwing shade” on the other.
“Obviously us as a team, we tried our best to stick with our original plan and display unity. We tried our best to give the Texans their respect by them staying in the locker room and making their own decision,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “But us coming together on the 50-yard line and locking arms, I think that sends a great message of unity and togetherness.”
Okafor, in his second season with the Chiefs, made an additional gesture, with his right fist in the air as he knelt on the sideline. He lost his mother this summer to Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Later, as he noted in his guest column for The Star, three prominent cases of Black men’s and women’s deaths — Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd — engulfed the country and sparked protests in cities big and small.
“At this point, I’m about to melt down,” Okafor wrote. “The pain from my mother’s death is sitting heavily on me, not to mention the rage that has taken over me since these slaughterings. I’m overwhelmed with so many emotions; all I wanted to do is crawl into a cave and hide while the rest of the world burns down.”
Okafor was not available to the media after the game after suffering a slight hamstring injury during it. As he knelt during the anthem Thursday, teammate Chris Jones placed his arm on one shoulder, with teammate Khalen Saunders doing the same on the other. Both share the defensive line room with Okafor.
Mahomes and Mathieu took the field in warmups wearing T-shirts that kept the message simple:
Vote.
The two have been among the most vocal Chiefs in their support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in leading a charge in voter registration that has included conversations with team president Mark Donovan and chairman and CEO Clark Hunt.
Earlier this week, they emphasized the reason for the demonstrations that would unfold Thursday night more than the demonstrations themselves.
“It’s not necessarily the gesture — we’re trying to fix something,” Mahomes said. “We’re trying to make it where it’s equal for everybody, everybody feels safe, everybody feels secure, everybody can go about living their life and they really truly care about people next to them.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 8:13 PM.