A former Minnesota “Teacher of the Year” recently staged a silent protest at a college football championship game and took a knee during the national anthem, right in front of President Trump.
According to ABC News , Kelly Holstine was part of a group of other educators being honored as top teachers in the country.
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Most of them stood during the anthem with their hands over their hearts.
But Holstine dropped to one knee to stand up for “marginalized and oppressed people.”
The ceremony for the teachers took place at the NCAA Championship football game at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Also in attendance were President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who took to the field during the opening ceremonies.
They remained on the field for the national anthem.
This provided Holstine the perfect opportunity to make her point directly at Trump himself.
As the anthem played, she dropped to one knee while the rest of the honorees remained standing in a line on either side of her.
Holstine’s kneel mirrored that of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who famously took a knee in 2016 to protest police brutality against black Americans.
His protested inspired a controversial movement.
Trump has publicly attacked him for it, at one point tweeting ,
“If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
After the game, Holstine tweeted to underscore why she chose that particular venue for her protest.
“Like many before, I respectfully kneeled during Nat’l Anthem because, ‘No one is free until we all are free’ (MLK),” the Minnesota English teacher wrote.
She also included a photo of herself kneeling at the game as well as a shot of Trump and Melania standing on the same field.
This isn’t the first protest Holstine has leveled at the POTUS.
In April 2019, she and another top educator boycotted a ceremony at the Oval Office to receive their honor from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“The words and practices and policies of this administration have been filled with a lot of hate toward the LGBTQ community, so I didn’t feel comfortable in that environment,” Holstine told The Hill .
