In an emotional plea to the Ralston School Board Monday night, one local man took a stand for fallen soldiers.
Vietnam Veteran Clayton Monical voiced his concerns to the board after three Ralston High School football players took a knee during the national anthem. Monical says the boys should visit with veterans to gain some perspective. "Talk to a veteran that came back, that was wounded, what that flag means to them and then witnessing a casket coming home draped with a flag with a fallen veteran in there."
Monical says he wanted to go before the school board to give a voice to the voiceless. "The ones that came home in a casket, they needed someone to speak up for them."
Kneeling during the national anthem has garnered a lot of attention in recent weeks, and Monical wants Ralston Public Schools to know that allowing the players to take a knee should not be allowed. "When the three boys knelt down on the field with the approval of the school board and their coaches, they disrespected what the American veteran did for their country and in honor of that flag."
Although Monical believes in every person's right to protest, he says kneeling during the anthem isn't the way to do it. "I do not argue that they have a point to make, but they do not need to use the American flag a symbol to fight for their cause."
Monical says he would rather see protesters given a different platform to air their grievances. "They could have asked the school if they could assemble the whole student body and have an open referendum to talk about their causes, and I don't have nothing against doing that. But they don't need to disrespect the flag that has given them this honor and privileged to talk freely and not be suppressed."