The fencer was put on probation by the USOC after kneeling during the anthem. But he firmly believes he is on the right side of history
Race Imboden will never forget the first time he competed following the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Imboden was in Egypt, representing the United States, when he ran into a French competitor – a Black fencer he had known for years – who asked him: “Why did you guys vote for Trump?”
Imboden remembers that meeting even now. “I think there was a quick moment after the election where we like, ‘we have to give [Trump] a chance. We have to give him an opportunity to show us.’ But he has let us down at every turn,” says the fencer over Zoom from his Manhattan apartment. “The country is at the worst place I’ve ever seen it. It’s in a terrible, terrible state.”
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