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Eric Reid changed mind about anthem protests after talking to Kaepernick

Ed Szczepanski / USA TODAY Sports

Earlier in August, San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid said he wasn't going to stage any protests during the national anthem this season after kneeling with Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 season.

Reid changed his mind, however, taking a knee during "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Sunday's preseason game while teammates Marquise Goodwin, Eli Harold, and Lorenzo Jerome all placed hands on his shoulder in support.

After the contest, Reid told reporters he decided to restart his protest after a conversation with Kaepernick and in the wake of the recent events in Charlottesville, adding he plans to continue to do so throughout the season.

"Change. The accountability for officers that step outside of the line," Reid said when asked what he hopes to achieve with his protest, according to NFL.com. "We want our president to be a president and not threaten to shut down the government over a wall. To change the oppression that happens in this country, it has no place in the world, let alone America.

"So, I think our goal is to just keep talking about it. Hopefully, we ... inspire people to do something about it through our protests. And this isn't something that's new. I've learned a lot of things throughout the past year about athletes that have talked about the same things that we're talking about. So, the goal is to just create some change."

Reid said the violence in Charlottesville by rallying white nationalists, ending in the murder of a counter-protester, inspired him to kneel once again during the anthem in order to "regain control" of the narrative that some have spun against NFL players for protesting.

"What I was upset about was the false narratives that were being told about us, people were saying we're un-American, that we're against police entirely and the military," Reid said, according to ESPN's Nick Wagoner. "And that just wasn't true. At first, I thought that was a small sacrifice to pay to get the word out to raise awareness, and I settled with thinking that raising that awareness was victory.

"Then fast-forward to Charlottesville, and the country sees what an un-American protest really looks like. That's when I had my change of heart, because what Colin, Eli and I did was a peaceful protest fueled by faith in God to help make our country a better place. And I feel like I needed to regain control of that narrative and not let people say that what we're doing is un-American, because it's not. It's completely American. We're doing it because we want equality for everyone. We want our country to be a better place, so that's why I decided to resume the protest."

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