Dozens of Notre Dame students kneel during the national anthem

Durrell Jackson had been protesting racial inequality at Notre Dame football games for two years.

The junior started just after Colin Kaepernick began demonstrating against police brutality in 2016. He remembers the reaction of other fans when he first sat down at the national anthem. "I got that look from people standing next to me, like," What are you doing ?! Jackson said on the phone Monday. "I looked at them," Yeah, I do it. "

Last Saturday at the last home game of the season at Notre Dame, Jackson had a lot of company.

Dozens of students knelt on the benches of Notre Dame Stadium, in part to urge their classmates to pay attention to racial issues, in part because of a recent episode of police brutality in the United States. Indiana and partly because of their religion.

"It's a political problem and a religion problem," Jackson said. "I am a black Christian. I love life. I love my brother. I am what Jesus did and why he died. The last time I checked, he died for others. [Racial inequality] is a problem that has hit my faith and my politics. I have to go. I have to do that.

Saturday's rally made some waves, however, because of its size. Shawn Wu, a 20-year-old junior like Jackson, saw his classmate sit down during the national anthem at the start of the season, during the Michigan game. "When the anthem started, I was on the wire," Wu said. "I was not sure about being engaged in this form of protest. I was undecided. I ended up not having the courage. "

More recently, however, a teacher has challenged her. Wu attends a seminar on the "realities of the race" and the instructor sent out a poll during a group discussion on the question of whether they would ever get on their knees. "Many of us said no," Wu recalled. "We have thought a lot about this."

Wu eventually sent a text message to Jackson, questioning about a larger protest at the last Irish home game. Jackson, happy to have more than a few friends for his usual demonstration, welcomes him favorably. And Saturday, something regular has become something different.

"We went there, we all sat in a group," Jackson said. "We knew something was going on, but we still played the normal game of Our Lady. We still had the hype to see the players go out. We knew we were going to do something that we felt was important in our heart. We all knelt down. We got up and we all looked at each other.

"We knew we were going to do something that we felt was important in our hearts." – Notre Dame Junior Durrell Jackson

Almost all the coverage of the events during the national anthem was devoted to NFL players and repression. We hear rabid dissidents, the president, the owners. We even heard about the legendary coach of Notre Dame, Lou Holtz, who accused kneeling athletes of "harming the sport".

We do not hear so much about ordinary, nameless people who express their solidarity without much attention.

And we do not hear much about the religious reasons for these demonstrations.

"Our goal for this event was to rephrase it," said Wu, a minor in theology. "It's not just a liberal act because we are snowflakes or something else, but because of a deep reverence for the flag and the tradition of Our Lady to defend what is right. This does not limit it to Catholics, but part of it is our faith. I think people forget how much Catholic theology calls for us to stand alongside the marginalized to deal with injustice. "

Our Lady has a special bond and celebrated with civil rights, embodied by Father Theodore Hesburgh, former president who was alongside Martin Luther King, son at a rally at Soldier Field in 1964. Hesburgh received the Medal of Freedom "for his visionary work against elements of apartheid in America," according to a page on Notre Dame's website.

"From the grueling fact-finding missions to final wording deliberations, Father Hesburgh has been recognized as the leading architect of the Civil Rights Act and has been a member of the Civil Rights Commission since its inception. created in 1957 until 1972, "says the website.

The religious aspect of the protest came at a convenient time, because, according to the Religious News Service, Catholic leaders should publish their first major letter on racism since the civil rights era in the coming days.

But that goes beyond faith. Recently, ProPublica reported on a video of Elkhart, in Indiana, police hitting a handcuffed man in a police station. The mayor of the city reportedly sent the case to prosecutors only after the South Bend Tribune asked for a copy of the video, which shows the handcuffed man who was bleeding for six minutes after being beaten. Many times. (The man who was detained was finally sentenced to one year's imprisonment).

The story continues