Bears protest racial injustice during national anthem at Panthers game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Bears continued protesting racial injustice and police brutality by demonstrating during the national anthem before their game Sunday against the Panthers.

During the performance of the anthem, Bobby Massie, Danny Trevathan, Josh Woods, Trevis Gipson, John Jenkins, Bilal Nichols, Brent Urban, Mario Edwards and Akiem Hicks kneeled on the sideline. James Vaughters and Joel Iyiegbuniwe also raised a fist.

As has been the case throughout the season, roughly 20 Bears players stayed in the tunnel during the anthem, including Eddie Jackson, Khalil Mack and Allen Robinson.

NFL teams have been more active than ever in the movement against racial injustice this season, and the Bears have made it a chief focus. Bears coach Matt Nagy has facilitated team-wide discussions on race, and players have spoken up about many of the major events around the country.

When players boycotted a practice in the preseason after Jacob Blake was shot by police in nearby Kenosha, Wis., left tackle Charles Leno said, “Because we’re professionals, everybody looks to us and praises us. Especially me being a Black player, being a black male, they praise me for what I’m doing. But there’s other Black males out there who are getting mistreated ... We wanted to take a stand. Hopefully we did that. But we’ve still got a lot of work to do, still have a ton of work to do, whether that’s in the fields of being in Kenosha and being in Chicago, just all around the United States of America.”