The NFL season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans got off to a rough start. Fans at Arrowhead Stadium booed players during a moment of unity before kickoff.
What We Know:
- As in many sports leagues, players from the Chiefs and Texans used the pregame activities to share messages about racism and social injustice. During the performance of the national anthem, the Texans players decided to stay in the locker room while the Chiefs elected to stay on field. Linebacker Alex Okafor was the only Chiefs player to take a knee during the anthem.
- After the anthem’s performance, the teams held a “Moment of Unity”. The gesture was thought up in part by Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Players from both teams came together at midfield and linked arms while a series of messages were displayed on the scoreboard: We Support Equality, We Must End Racism, We Believe in Justice for All, We Must End Police Brutality, We Choose Unconditional Love, We Believe Black Lives Matter, It Takes All of Us.
Unified for change.#ItTakesAllOfUs pic.twitter.com/vwwzbUtjJv
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) September 11, 2020
- Fans can be heard booing during the moment of unity. The situation was quickly met with criticism on social media, with many users calling out the fans for being racist and nonsensical for literally booing unity.
The Chief fans booing against unity while seconds later, demanding a good game out of the same players is a really clear example of "We only want you to perform for us. We don't want to hear anything else from you."
— Cristela Alonzo (@cristela9) September 11, 2020
- Fans also took part in the “Arrowhead Chop,” a crowd gesture which has long been seen as offensive and insensitive towards indigenous communities. The Chiefs organization has announced that it is looking into ways to be less inappropriate towards indigenous cultures, such as banning fans from wearing headdresses.
Kansas City won the season opener, defeating Houston 34-20.
