Faith Compelled Notre Dame Students to Take a Knee During the National Anthem

A group of more than 100 students took a knee in the stands of Notre Dame Stadium during the national anthem on Saturday to protest racism.

The students put their own spin on the Colin Kaepernick-inspired move, however, claiming their faith propelled them to take the symbolic stance.

“We wanted to frame this movement around Notre Dame’s religion, which is Catholic, one of the student organizers, Katie Hieatt, told CNN.

“For me personally, this is both a political and religious issue,” another organizer, Durrell Jackson said. “Police brutality and racial [and] social injustice against brothers and sisters is not the Christian thing to do.”

The students said that their message wasn’t only about inherent racism, they also wanted to make a statement about how people are treated when they share opinions that others don’t agree with.