# @plinusa on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CS67xOhMty7
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/14612053-plinusa-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/legacy-do/c79458d3475ec5ee9e60853285afa1ea6e9d0cb176b0b5b1f221661bb21229e8.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-08-23T14:48:47.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) — https://gondola.cc/PLinUSA

## Caption

"I’m a senior advisor of rural development in the US Department of Agriculture. 

I became a fan of the Premier League more recently. When Colin Kaepernick kneeled and protested, I thought it was a very good thing. You think about Muhammad Ali and Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968, it’s something very near and dear to my heart. So when he was cut, I assumed he would get back into the league, and I said I wasn’t going to watch football until he gets back - not thinking it would be a lifetime. So in the fall, when I would normally be watching football, my weekends became kind of free. 

In December 2017, I went to visit my uncle in Nigeria, and there, soccer is huge. Where he lives, it’s either you’re an Arsenal fan or a Chelsea fan. So I was watching with him during Christmas, when so many games are on, and I saw Spurs with Dele Alli - a man with a Nigerian name. I didn’t want to be a bandwagon team, and I thought Spurs would be a great team to follow. I just got more and more into it the more I watched. They’re my team now. 
----
To now see the players in the Premier League kneeling, it was so interesting to see. There was a lot of consternation about it and people thinking it was an empty gesture - but after seeing what has happened over the summer at the Euros and now the response of the crowd being so supportive, there’s this sense that people understand that it’s an important gesture. It’s league-wide, it wasn’t one player or one team, but across all leagues. It’s coming from the top down that we’re not tolerating this anymore. It makes me feel like I don’t have to feel guilty rooting for them - because on that issue, they’re on the right side. 

They’re making a statement, one that's loud and clear that people cannot mistake. They blow the whistle, everyone goes on one knee and then, the commentators - every single time - explain why they're getting down on one knee. You have to pay attention. All eyes are on the game and you say, “Hey, this is because we want to combat racism, and we aren’t gonna tolerate it anymore.”
- Gbenga Ajilore, who found love, connection to family, and support for an important cause in his spursofficial fandom #PLFansofAmerica

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## Credits

No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post.

## Tags

plfansofamerica

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