Taking a knee is a personal thing though some teams in the NFL and National Basketball may make group protests. Makes sense. Most players in those leagues are black and they have their reasons. But if those leagues rule to halt the kneeling during the anthem, those are rules that will apply to all those league’s players. Players would still have the option to kneel before the anthem presumably, as has already been done by some players and teams.
The National Baseball league has fewer black players and so far protests there have been fewer, though the league may eventually rule on this, too.
But I see no reason why the largely white, largely Canadian NHL should be ‘held to the same expected standard and political agenda’. If Crosby and the Pens want to go to a White House social, what’s wrong with that? If there are any black or U.S. players on that team, they may feel differently and not go on an individual basis. A free choice and way to make a stand. It seems to me like there’s leeway.
For the record, P.K. Subban of Nashville Preds is not going to kneel and he’s entitled, for the same individuals argument, to make that personal choice. Ultimately, when you get down to it, protest is up to individuals who should not force others to change their own personal positions and situations. We live in an age right now in which there is a lot of agenda-ization going on. People just trying to force, manipulate, or coerce others to take stands that don’t affect them or with which they don’t agree.
Sure, personal opinions and stands are, optimally, to be respected, especially in cases where no violence is directly involved. It is ok to share opinions, but it is not up to disgruntled individuals to tell other people what they should do in very different circumstances and situations, and to demand that everyone should automatically line up according to one espoused political agenda.