||| Taya Kyle | FB |||
The widow of Navy veteran Chris Kyle a.k.a the 'American Sniper' has made her sentiments on the NFL players kneeling during the national anthem controversies known. Taya Kyle told those NFL players that they “should get off their knees and “work on building bridges” instead.
Kyle expressed her thoughts on the issue through a lengthy open letter posted Tuesday on Facebook where she described the players’ kneeling stance as a “divisive and angry move that has shattered what many people loved most about the sport.”
The widow said that professional football united people in the past, but now the players’ actions are “breaking that unity.”
Kyle also sees the move of the players as “unpatriotic”. She wrote: “You have lost me.”
She also elaborated in the letter: “You were doing your part to bring people together and heal the world. You were doing your part celebrating each other based on skills, talent and a joint vision without regard to color and religion… Did it ever occur to you that you and we (fans) were already a mix of backgrounds, races, and religions? We were already living the dream you want, right in front of you.”
Kyle instead encouraged NFL players to use their voices and to create impact in other ways like “building bridges” in their communities. She wrote: “You have a lot of strong guys, I am sure in the off season a lot of the could build some pretty big bridges if they care enough to do the hard work. That would involve getting off their knees and getting to work though. I can do it while I raise two kids as their only parent and work through the greatest pain of my life. Let’s see if they can do it for the issues they say they care so much about.”
She also reminded them what the sport meant and stood for. She wrote: “Football was really a metaphor for our ideal world-different backgrounds, talents, political beliefs and histories as one big team with one big goal-to do well, to win, TOGETHER.
President Donald Trump strongly criticized the players who kneeled during the singing of the national anthem in the Sunday games, ad called for their “firing” because they disrespected the flag.
Kyle’s husband, Christopher Scott “Chirs” Kyle was a U.S. Navy SEAL veteran and sniper. Kyle served four tours in the Iraq War and was awarded several commendations for acts of heroism and meritorious service in combat.
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