So You Want To Represent A Country Just So You Can Protest It?

EUGENE, OREGON – JUNE 26: Gwendolyn Berry (L), third place, turns away from U.S. flag during the U.S. National Anthem as DeAnna Price (C), first place, and Brooke Andersen, second place, also stand on the podium after the Women’s Hammer Throw final on day nine of the 2020 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 26, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon. In 2019, the USOPC reprimanded Berry after her demonstration on the podium at the Lima Pan-American Games. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

So, let me be clear. I am 100% pro-US Constitution. The rights that it lays our for our citizens were bought and paid for in the blood of the founders of this great nation. Therefore, even though I may completely disagree with someone's method of protest, I will defend one's right to do so-every time. NOW...I could not be more confused by this.

Gwen Berry is a female Hammer-Thrower who has qualified for her second US Olympic Team (she took the Bronze medal for finishing third). On the medal podium, she turned away from the flag in protest during the National Anthem. Okay. It's not like we haven't seen protest during the anthem at athletic events before-in fact, it's almost become so commonplace that its intended outrage has been somewhat lost in its regularity. However, those protests occur in sporting events featuring individuals representing professional or university teams or just themselves. Gwen Berry, by nature of what she does, was protesting a country she was giving her all to represent in an Olympiad? I have that right, I think. If so...what are we doing here? You want to be an "activist athlete," great, more power to you. However, to be effective, your activism has to make sense. This does not. Essentially what Gwen Berry is saying here is, "I am fighting to represent and a country I'd like to protest." Let's take a moment to look at this country. I may not always agree with the actions of Sen. Ted Cruz, but I do here.

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female hammer thrower protests national anthem Gwen Berry Olympic protest protest

Charlie & DebbieEditor

Charlie Nance is the Afternoon Drive co-host (along with his wife) of "The Charlie and Debbie Show" at WSOC, Country 1037 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The couple have been with the radio station since 2006. Charlie has won the prestigious CMA (Country Music Association) Award for Radio Personality of the Year and has been a finalist for the Country Radio Hall of Fame four times. Prior to his time in Charlotte, Charlie (along with Debbie) spent more than a decade hosting successful morning radio shows in Greenville, SC; Augusta, Ga; and Birmingham, Al. As a content creator for Country 1037, Charlie writes about dream lottery windfalls, sports, restaurants and bars, and travel experiences in North and South Carolina.