Chris Kluwe, a former National Football League (NFL) punter for the Minnesota Vikings, was arrested on Tuesday after protesting a MAGA sign proposal at a city council meeting in Huntington Beach, California, and engaging in “civil disobedience.”
According to Fox News, Kluwe’s protest came after a sign was proposed for a public library in Huntington Beach. The proposed sign would feature the words “Magical,” Alluring,” Galvanizing,” and “Adventurous” and would spell out “MAGA.” Fox News reported that the proposed sign would also read, “Through hope and change our nation has built back better to the golden era of Making America Great Again!”
A video from Tuesday’s city council meeting shows Kluwe addressing city council members before declaring that he would be engaging in an act of “peaceful civil disobedience.”
“Unfortunately it’s clear that this council doesn’t listen, so instead, I’m gonna take my time to say what MAGA has stood for these past three weeks,” Kluwe stated. “MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for resegregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing.”
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The former NFL star claimed that MAGA also stands for firing the individuals who oversee America’s nuclear arsenal, firing military veterans, firing Veterans Affairs workers, and cutting education funding.
“MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy, and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement,” Kluwe added. “You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat. That is what it is. I will now engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.”
After concluding his comments, Kluwe can be seen walking toward the city council members before the video suddenly cuts out. The video then shows the former NFL punter face-down on the ground as police officers arrested him and carried him out of the building.
According to the Orange County Register, Kluwe was later charged with disrupting an assembly. The former NFL star told the outlet that he was released roughly four afters after his arrest at the city council meeting.
“This was done not with the intention of changing the council’s mind, because I don’t think those minds can be changed,” Kluwe told the Orange County Register regarding his anti-MAGA protest. “It was done so that people who are watching and people who will watch understand that this is important enough to get arrested for. That it’s important to stand up and speak truth to power and to do so in a way that other people can emulate.”
