Photos via Ben Volin on Twitter

The Raiders and Patriots played in Mexico City on Sunday, and Oakland running back Marshawn Lynch showed that his activism is not confined by national borders.

Lynch has been part of the wave of players protesting racial injustice this fall, and on Sunday he again sat during the pregame playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Then, presumably figuring he has no specific grievance against the Mexican government, he stood during the playing of the Himno Nacional Mexicano, according to The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin.

As with all protests during the anthem, Lynch’s demonstration prompted plenty of strong opinions. Expectedly, some observers criticized Lynch for disrespecting to the American anthem while saluting the Mexican one, while others applauded him for making clear exactly who he was protesting.

Anyway, Lynch followed his protest with one of his strongest halves of the year, gaining 61 yards on nine carries.

Lynch has struggled a bit this season after returning from a brief retirement, making his performance early against the Patriots is a promising sign.

As for his protest, Marshawn is not one to explain himself to the media, so we won’t necessarily learn the thought process that led him to sit for one anthem and stand for the other. But given that players across the league have been protesting police brutality and institutional racism in America, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.

2 thoughts on “Marshawn Lynch sits for U.S. national anthem, stands for Mexican national anthem

  1. His team sucks ass for a reason. He is a divisive person and the idiots on the left want to continue to vilify white people. Hilarious because if you actually look at real statistics it would prove that 13 percent population is committing most of the crime and hate crime in America. Mr. Lynch is a fucking retard with an iq below 70. Funny how the morons protesting can barely speak the english language. These are the same racist idiots calling white people cave dwellers and Neanderthals yet they seem like the idiots that only side with criminals solely based on their skin color. He’s not even as good as he once was. He’s a bum and shouldn’t even be in the NFL. He’s collecting his check and that’s it. If he wasn’t on that Seahawks team with a good d he would have never won a super bowl. Everyone knows the most important part of a Football team is their defense. We’ve seen teams with lackluster offenses win the Super Bowl such as the Giants in their two Super Bowls in recent years. Defense is more important than offense.

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