Harnett County man explains reason for kneeling while singing national anthem around town

A man in Harnett County is gaining a following for his rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.

For the past couple of weeks, Paul King Latham has been performing it while kneeling. Custom commands that people stand during the anthem.

He said he's making a statement while still showing love of country.

"To kneel is to say Black lives matter too," explained Latham.

Every day, usually after work at his construction job, Latham is somewhere in Harnett County taking a knee while singing the national anthem.

It's one small way to lend his voice to the racial justice movement.

Latham said he's had a few complaints, but the responses have been overwhelmingly positive.

"There are people who will watch this and say, 'To kneel for the national anthem is disrespectful.' I would tell them I think about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He kneeled, and I believe that kneeling is showing a form of respect."

He said it's not just respect - it's something else.

"[It’s] a point of humility. When a man meets the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, he kneels in a point of submission to her," said Latham.

Latham said he loves what Francis Scott Key wrote. He explained he has no desire to silence it.

But kneeling, for him, is a way to seek a redress of grievances while still so proudly hailing.