Entire Indiana Fever team, including Canadian Natalie Achonwa, take a knee during national anthem

Athletes across the United States have been kneeling down during the national anthem.

It started with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He said, last month, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour." 

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Since then, more and more US athletes have been taking a knee through pre-game renditions of "The Star Spangled Banner". On Wednesday night, every player on the WNBA's Indiana Fever joined the protest.

Canadian Natalie Achonwa is a forward on the team. Here's an excerpt of her conversation with As it Happens host Carol Off. 

CAROL OFF: Natalie, can you describe the moment you and your team decided to kneel during the anthem?

NATALIE ACHONWA: It was a decision made by our entire team. And our captain and leader Tamika Catchings had brought the idea to us before the game and had messaged us, and said, 'How do you guys feel about this? Let's chat and let's talk this out.' We all jumped in and jumped on board because we all believed in it. It was something collectively we all believed in. So it was great we were able to make that decision as a team.

CO: Tell us the feeling you had when you did get down on your knees during that anthem. What was going on in your head?

NA: I was just thinking about all of the lives lost. And not even just lost, but all the lives affected by this. Including mine, including my boyfriend, including my brothers, and including everyone I know that's African American. And just how the injustice affects not only these people that are unfortunately losing their lives, but the families that are losing their loved one. And really I was just proud, I was proud of our team, and how we were able to collectively come together. Still, you can see just looking at that photograph of us, that we have people that are white, we have people that are black, we have people that are mixed races, and that we were able to do that interlocking arms and standing or kneeling together.

CO: You're Canadian. You're from Guelph, Ontario. And you are on the fabulous national team of Canada. So, can you imagine yourself kneeling during the Canadian national anthem?

NA: That's a good question that I didn't think about. But, I would say …  If this situation was happening in Canada, yes. And I'm not saying there's no racism in Canada. It's just not to this extreme at this point. But, if it was at this point where it's that unjust in Canada, yes I would. I would. I would kneel