The Cleveland police union is declining to participate in a pregame ceremony before the Steelers-Browns game next Sunday in response to Browns players kneeling during the national anthem at their preseason game against the Giants on Aug. 21.
Police men and women were supposed to hold the American flag during the anthem before the Week 1 game against the Steelers.
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While the Browns players are following Colin Kaepernick’s lead in refusing to stand for the anthem in protest, in part, of what’s perceived as unjust treatment of black people by police, the union’s position is that the reasoning behind the protest is unsound.
"It's just ignorant for someone to do that," Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis told cleveland.com. "It just defies logic to me. The fact that management was aware of what they planned on doing, that's as offensive as it can get."
The Cleveland police department, meanwhile, made it clear in a statement to the Huffington Post that the union is acting on its own by deciding not to participate.
“The union does not speak for the Division,” public information officer Jennifer Ciaccia said. “The Division of Police is in no way boycotting the Browns, nor denying participation in events with our officers.”
The Browns organization has been supportive of the players’ protests, which also included them standing with locked arms before the preseason game in Chicago last Thursday.
"Professionally, thoughtfully, probably as thoughtfully as any others have," Browns executive VP of football operations Sashi Brown told cleveland.com. "These are guys that mean well. We really push our guys to be active and conscious about the communities they live in and what goes on around them that might be even larger than football. They do that, and we support them. We respect their efforts to use their platform to make some change and express themselves. And I think for all those guys that knelt initially and then last week decided to stand – I won't get into why they made that decision – I think they are going about it in a very responsible and thoughtful way. I'm actually proud of them."
Loomis, though, believes Browns management is complicit in hypocrisy.
"When management allows you to do those things, then that's on them," Loomis said. "It's hypocritical of the Browns management and ownership to want to have an armed forces first-responder day, and have us involved in it when they allow their players to take a knee during the national anthem. That's the very representation of what we stand for. That's why we aren't going to."