In Abdul-Rauf’s case there is no accusation. He flat out told the NBA he was refusing to stand for the anthem due to it being a symbol of oppression and tyranny. With Dion Waiters however, the claim is that it is a big misunderstanding.
On November 7th Dion Waiters told reporter Chris Haynes, of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, that he missed the national anthem on the November 5th game against the Utah Jazz because of his religion.
The reporter openly admits that he never recalled Waiters missing a national anthem in the past but Waiters was claiming a re-dedication to his faith. So, like any decent reporter he asked if Waiters intended to carry this tradition on for the season. Waiters, accordingly to Haynes, said “Yes, I do.”
This lead to the story of Dion refusing to stand for the national anthem which instantly had people, much like myself, thinking of those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it.
I remember the fall out of Chris Jackson / Abdul-Rauf. He was suspended by the NBA over his stance to refuse to stand for the anthem. Granted the suspension lasted all of a day but it could have been much worse. An agreement was settled between the NBA and Abdul-Rauf where he would stand for the anthem but he could look downward to the floor to not acknowledge the flag.
Abdul-Rauf stated he often would say a Muslim based prayer during this time. Abdul-Rauf would be traded in the off-season from Denver to Sacramento despite scoring 19.2 points a game and 6.8 assists a game.
In Sacramento his minutes would be cut drastically over the next two year where he went from starting 53 games, of the 57 played in Denver, to 0 games started with 31 games played in two years later. He would then leave the league for 2 years under the guise of retirement before returning for one season to the Vancouver Grizzlies, and then ultimately going back to Europe.
However, Dion has a different claim.
His is one of miscommunication, and the reporter who broke the initial story isn’t disagreeing.
According to Haynes both he and Waiters had a long conversation on Saturday about both
Wednesday’s incident and the story that broke. Haynes openly admits that when he asked Dion about continuing his pregame ritual he meant the skipping of the anthem that occurred on the game played on Wednesday the 5th.
Waiters admitted he thought that the question referred to his prayer and meditation time before games. Waiters then admitted that he would be present for the anthems going forward and he just lost track of time for that one game. He also admitted he’d like to move forward and past this situation. Since then he hasn’t missed an anthem.
It is interesting to note, that Dion losing track of time or protesting or whatever ... coincided with the him being removed from the starting line up and sent to the bench.
So the question is what version of Dion do we believe?
Was he misunderstood, did he mean what he said but buckled under the backlash that followed, or was he simply pouting over the losee of his starting spot, and his faith became a convenient scapegoat?
