49er’s motivation: Eric Reid, one of first to join protest, says he’s fueled by his faith in God.
His son was at the forefront of the NFL movement that mushroomed Sunday, but Eric Reid Sr. wasn’t watching as more than 200 players silently protested during the national anthem to shed light on racial injustice in America.
Instead, Reid Sr., the father of 49ers safety Eric Reid, was delivering words from the Bible. He did so as players across the league knelt, sat or raised a fist, inspired to protest by President Trump’s angry words delivered Friday.
Reid Sr., who became an ordained minister in 1999, was serving Sunday as a guest preacher at Shiloh Baptist Church in Galvez, La. His grandfather was a preacher,
his mom sang in the choir at his grandfather’s church, and he continued the tradition.
“Eric grew up going to church,” Reid Sr. said in an interview with The Chronicle. “He knows the Bible. He knows the Lord.”
In fact, as the social protest swept across the country, his son spent part of his day at the Cornerstone Fellowship church in Livermore. And that’s not surprising to those who have been listening over the past 13 months as Reid has explained why he decided to join Colin Kaepernick last year and kneel during the anthem.
Reid has said his decision to kneel has been “fueled by my faith in God” and a desire to help the disadvantaged. And with Kaepernick still unemployed, Reid has explained that his willingness to jeopardize his own lucrative job comes from his belief that “you can’t serve God and money.”
Reid remains baffled that his motivation and those of others have been viewed as anti-American. On Monday, in an op-ed in the New York Times, he said he was “heartbroken” to see the “constant smears” against Kaepernick, who has who pledged $1 million to organizations in oppressed communities, organized “Know Your Rights” camps for youth and helped a plane filled with food and supplies for famine-stricken Somalia.
On Sunday, many fans booed as players knelt during the anthem, and some New England fans yelled at players to “stand up.” On Friday, Trump said that anyone who “disrespects our flag” by kneeling during the anthem should be “fired” and referred to such a player as a “son of a bitch.”
Reid Sr. noted Trump had the constitutional right to his opinion, but found his namecalling inappropriate.
“That was outright uncalled for,” Reid Sr. said. “As far as being the leader of the free world, he’s supposed to be the person bringing people together, not separating. He could have made his same point a different way without using those type of words.”
Reid, who grew up in suburban Baton Rouge, La., was inspired by his faith and an incident in his hometown to join Kaepernick last year.
In July 2016, Reid wrote an article for MMQB.com less than two weeks after a 37-yearold black man, Alton Sterling, was shot several times and killed while he was pinned to the ground by two white police officers in Baton Rouge.
Later, when Kaepernick began his protest, Reid joined to respectfully do something with the anger and anguish he was feeling. In the op-ed, he said he looked to James 2:17 before kneeling with Kaepernick: “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
“There’s a lot of talk about disrespecting the flag,” Reid Sr. said. “That’s not what he’s doing. My son wasn’t raised that way. And he loves this country. And he will continue to do things that he thinks is right. Not just right for him, but other people. He’s always been doing that as far as helping people out.”
Indeed, Reid has hosted a golf tournament and sports camps to raise money for the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation in recent years. He is teaming with Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge to renovate a “Dreamcenter,” a 45,000-square-foot building that will be a refuge for women and children, feed the hungry and have after-school programs for at-risk youth.
He also has supported the Ubuntu Football Academy near Cape Town, South Africa, which was created in response to the crisis of fatherlessness in the country. He recently purchased a 19-seat minivan, five laptops and a television for the academy, in addition to donating to help with its expansion. He made a presentation to his teammates this spring on Ubuntu’s behalf, and had a charity youth clinic with the Earthquakes.
“Eric has given so much to people individually,” Reid Sr. said. “He is someone who cares about America. And it’s his right, if he feels that kneeling is what he needs to do, it’s his right to do that. And for somebody else to come out and try to take that right away from him because they feel differently about it? That’s not America. That’s not what this country is about.”
In his op-ed, Reid quoted from the Bible and Martin Luther King Jr. Similarly, his father referenced the Bible and civil-rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, saying change can take place only if the system is agitated.
Reid Sr. is proud that his son, through his faith, decided to become one of the first members of a movement that appears to be gaining momentum.
“You can tell the system is being agitated and a lot of people are talking about this who haven’t talked about it before,” Reid Sr. said. “It’s a start.”