Why US soccer star Megan Rapinoe isn’t singing the national anthem at WC

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As the national anthem played before the U.S. women’s national team took on Thailand in the FIFA Women’s World Cup last week, the team stood in a row on the field. A camera panned down the line of players during the broadcast, showing each with her hand over her heart, mouthing along to the song.

At the end of the line was Megan Rapinoe, the co-captain and one of the biggest stars of the team. She stood impassively, hands at her sides, not singing along.

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In September 2016, Rapinoe was one of the first athletes to follow then-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s lead in kneeling during the anthem to protest racial oppression and police brutality against black people.

“Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. It was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it,” she said at the time, according to The Associated Press. “It’s important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this. We don’t need to be the leading voice, of course, but standing in support of them is something that’s really powerful.”

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“I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart,” she told Yahoo! Sports in May. “I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again.”

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