Alabama pastor says you should be shot if you don't stand for the National Anthem

An Alabama pastor and high school announcer suggested during a game on Friday night that people who don’t want to stand during the National Anthem should be shot.

“If you don’t want to stand for the national anthem, you can line up over there by the fence and let our military personnel take a few shots at you since they’re taking shots for you,” said Pastor Allen Joyner at the McKenzie High School football game, according to AL.com.

Joyner was identified by relatives, who praised his actions on Facebook. Denise Crowley-Whitfield first posted about Joyner’s comments on Facebook in a post that was shared over 4,000 times before she deleted it.

In the now-deleted post, Crowley-Whitfeld said the football crowd went “crazy cheering” for Joyner, according to AL.com. Joyner’s church, Sweet Home Baptist Church, first posted on Facebook in support of him, but deleted it within an hour, according to AL.com.

High school football players across the country have been taking a knee in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, who has been refusing to stand for the National Anthem in protest of the killing of black men by police. Despite that Kaepernick and his supporters are following their First Amendment right to protest, vitriol against him has also spread nationally, perhaps proving some ugly truths about modern racism.