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SOCIAL JUSTICE
Various NFL teams have taken a day off to discuss the ills they perceive in American policing, but now the NBA, NHL and most of MLB have actually taken some real games off. Don’t think the NFL players are going to let themselves be left out. Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com:
The New York Giants haven’t ruled out the option of sitting out a game in the regular season to protest social injustice, according to lead running back Saquon Barkley and wide receiver Sterling Shepard.
Barkley and Shepard were asked on Zoom calls Thursday after practice whether not playing was a possibility. They did not rule it out. Both said it was something that would be discussed among the team.
“I can’t really just go and speak on behalf of the whole league, but, for us, that is something that we’re going to talk about within our [social justice] groups, within our team,” Barkley said. “What’s talked about in players meetings stays in players meetings.”
It’s unclear how serious the Giants players are about skipping a game. The Giants open on Sept. 14, a Monday night, when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“That’s something that we’re going to talk about as a team. I’m not going to comment on that until we do so,” Shepard said.
The Giants players and team intend to continue their conversation on social justice issues Thursday afternoon and into the evening.
The Giants did hold practice Thursday while several other teams around the NFL decided to stay off the field in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake. The NBA players boycotted playoff games the previous day, and the WNBA postponed games.
This did not go unnoticed among the Giants players.
“Commend them for standing up, using their platform, using their voice,” Barkley said.
Giants coach Joe Judge said that he had spoken to his leadership council in recent days — and again Thursday morning — and that they decided to continue practicing, in part to provide younger players a fair opportunity to make an impression in this shortened training camp.
Judge and the Giants were going to continue their social justice conversation Thursday afternoon during gaps in the team’s schedule.
Judge has been adamant about how they can’t just offer up blanket statements and instead need to take action. The players were divided into nine social justice groups earlier this year and had the freedom to pick causes in the local community where they want to get involved. The coach has been allowing the players to drive the initiatives and actions, including how to progress now given the recent events in Wisconsin.
“We’re letting the players think about what they want to do,” Judge said Thursday. “We’re going to have conversations as a coaching staff and ownership tonight, and we’ll have more answers then.”
Owners John Mara and Steve Tisch have been key figures in the talks, according to Judge.
And this from Mike Florio, who gives a qualified endorsement to a strike while taking a not-very veiled shot at Clay Travis:
The NFL’s season begins in 13 days. A question has emerged as to whether some players will decline to play.
Jim Trotter of NFL Media reports that “[a] few prominent Black players are telling me they want to sit out a game to make their feelings felt & force change/action.”
Trotter adds that the players are “tired, frustrated and emotional.” And while it’s only a few players for now, that could change.
Another video showing excessive police violence against a minority could easily change things. The NFL’s response to the Jacob Blake situation could change things. For individual teams, an impression that ownership isn’t doing enough could change things.
There could be significant potential consequences for what would amount to a wildcat strike, whether launched by a handful of players or entire teams. The players, in this moment, don’t seem to care. Also, it would be unseemly for the NFL or its teams to take legal action against players who decide not to play in order to bring more attention to larger societal issues.
The better approach arguably would be to play, using the platform to send clear messages before, after, and during games that both raise awareness and call for specific change. At some point, however, players will understandably become exasperated by the perception/reality that no one seems to be listening.
We all need to listen. And we all need to ignore the voices that would prefer to ignore the current situation. Whether it’s fans who can’t or won’t understand the issues or media seeking to leverage an angry minority of white Americans into clicks and views and ultimately riches and fame (or at least notoriety), those who understand the difference between right and wrong should remain resolutely in the right, and they should wear the relentless scorn of those who oppose true equality as a badge of honor.
The Ravens, as an organization and not just the players, are being widely commended by the media for a statement that starts with the presumption of “racism” as being “embedded” in the United States:
With yet another example of racial discrimination with the shooting of Jacob Blake, and the unlawful abuse of peaceful protesters, we MUST unify as a society. It is imperative that all people – regardless of race, religion, creed or belief – come together to say, ‘Enough is enough!’
This is bigger than sports. Racism is embedded in the fabric of our nation’s foundation and is a blemish on our country’s history. If we are to change course and make our world a better place, we must face this problem head-on and act now to enact positive change.
It is time to accept accountability and acknowledge the ramifications of slavery and racial injustice.
Though we cannot right all the wrongs of our country’s history, we can:
*Arrest and charge the police officers responsible for Breonna Taylor’s killing and the shooting of Jacob Blake.
*Demand that Senator Mitch McConnell bring the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 to the Senate floor for vote.
*End qualified immunity; require body cameras; ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants; hold police accountable in court; establish a framework to prohibit racial profiling at federal, state, and local levels
*Support state- and federally-mandated CALEA Accreditation and national standards of care in policing.
*Encourage everyone to engage in the political process by registering to vote on both the local and national level. (www.risetovote.turbovote.org.)
*Demand prison sentencing reform that is fair and equitable.
*Encourage every citizen to act with respect and compliance when engaging with the police. If you feel there has been an abuse of power, we encourage you to contact your police department’s internal affairs unit. (For Baltimore City, dial 410-396-2300.)
We will use our platform to drive change now – not just for our generation, but for the generations that follow, for our sons and daughters and for their children.
Some reaction –
@TomPelissero
The #Ravens decided to practice today, but then players and coaches met for about 4 hours afterward, yielding a statement unlike anything I’ve seen from an organization in nearly two decades covering pro sports.
@AKinkhabwala
You can say you want some vague amorphous “change” in the world. Or you can be incredibly specific about the actionable change you are looking for – and unafraid of any blowback in being that specific. THIS is a statement, #Ravens.
@jemelehill
This is strong.
@LefevreFever
Best statement I’ve seen from any team so far. Clear, direct, doesn’t dance around the subject. Good on the Ravens.
@AlbertBreer
We saw the Lions lead yesterday. We’re seeing the Ravens lead today. Both teams went to a level others weren’t at the time, and both should be commended for it.
And in the process, the players are seeing their power realized.
You can’t be a white QB in the NFL and not get involved per WR CHRIS CONLEY of the Jaguars:
Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Chris Conley called on “figures who are the face of the league” to do more to help fight social injustice.
The sixth-year pro made it clear Thursday he was talking about the NFL’s top quarterbacks, the ones who have the most influence in games, in locker rooms and in communities. Think Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson, Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson, for starters.
“Until the people in the NFL who are irreplaceable decide that they’re going to step back and going to hang it up for a week, two weeks, whatever it may be, but I don’t foresee that happening,” Conley said during a video call with reporters. “I think you have great leaders in this league. You have guys who have a voice and want to be heard and who are willing to make that sacrifice. I believe I’m one of them.
“But until those figures who are the face of the league decide that and people rally behind them, I don’t think you see that, I don’t think you see that from us. I hate to say that. I wish I could stand up and say with confidence that people in this league would band together for the least of these.”
Conley has been one of the team’s most outspoken leaders during a nationwide reckoning over racial injustice. He delivered an inspirational speech on the steps of the county jail in downtown Jacksonville in May, and took center stage during team meetings designed to find ways to promote change in the months since George Floyd’s death in Minnesota.
Conley was front and center again Thursday as the Jaguars grappled with whether to practice in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting in Wisconsin. Blake, 29, was shot by police, apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV, three of his children seated inside. The shooting was captured on cellphone video and ignited new protests in the U.S. three months after Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer touched off coast-to-coast protests and rallies.
Nine NFL teams canceled practice in response to Blake’s shooting.
Jacksonville held a two-hour team meeting before players voted 37-36 to practice, agreeing before the roll call to unify behind the decision.
Conley took the field with teammates and later vowed to continue his push to create change. He also believes it would help to have the league’s most prominent players at the forefront of the fight.
“I don’t necessarily have that confidence in those people in that position, and that’s unfortunate. You see the leaders and the people in the other leagues stand up and say they’re sitting down,” Conley said, mentioning NBA stars LeBron James and Stephen Curry by name. “Those are the guys who are at the top of their game, the face of the league. The same thing would need to happen in the NFL for that to happen. Until then, I’m not sure.”
What would it take to get all the top quarterbacks on board?
“A hell of a lot of courage,” he said. “It would take someone of notoriety standing up and calling on other people of notoriety and saying, ‘Hey, we want to get something done. Let’s talk. Let’s find this message. Let’s find the actionable things that people can do to change. Let’s put pressure on them right now, and anyway we can, let’s use the platform while we have it because this isn’t forever.’
“We won’t have this platform forever; not everyone will care forever. So they got to use it because his voice ain’t quite the same as mine. It’s just not the same. … They have that power. We can challenge them to use it to champion other people’s voices.”
QB RYAN TANNEHILL of the Titans is a believer in the cause.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill joined his teammates Thursday in skipping practice to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake and offered his opinion about the U.S.
Tannehill, who recently signed a four-year, $118-million contract extension that will pay him at least $17.5 million in 2020 alone, said the U.S. was founded “upon racist ideas.”
“These systematic oppressions have been going on for a long time. Hundreds of years, this country was founded upon racist ideas with slaves being brought here from the day of foundation. And those ideas have persisted throughout the last hundreds of years and it’s going to take time until we can get those all out. We’re tired of it,” Tannehill said alongside teammate Kelvin Byard.
He then got choked up while continuing to talk about his children.
“We’re tired of dealing with the systematic oppression. We’re tired of dealing with excessive force. We’re tired of seeing Black men and women die in situations where they should be walking home and spending the night with their family. It’s sickening … to just know that they have to worry about their kids coming home at night. I have two young kids that because the color of their skin I never have to worry about if they get pulled over by a police officer that they’re gonna make it out of that interaction alive and that’s a sick fact of the world that they’re living in.”
Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com demands that the NFL become a movement that compels a certain kind of change, not a neutral business seeking the patronage of all.
The NFL season opens in less than two weeks. That seems like an eternity for this country, at this time when things we could have never fathomed a few short months ago are the new norm.
The landscape has changed in so many ways, with sports often at the intersection of the ongoing struggles for public health, racial equality and proportionate policing, and with the political environment as charged and divisive as ever ahead of a landmark election in November. The NFL, of course, is immune to none of this, and if you think that what is going on in the NBA right now, in the heart of its playoffs, can’t happen in the NFL regular season, you are fooling yourself.
The paradigm in sports – professional and collegiate – is changing. A revolution of sorts is at hand, one that is being conducted for fairness and justice and nothing financial. Athletes have found their voice and their platform. As with COVID-19, thus far the country’s premier pro sports league has not had to face these issues in the regular season in quite the same way as the other pro sports, but that time is nearly upon us.
And the NFL, a league of predominantly black players and entirely non-black owners, which has just welcomed its first black team president in its 100-year history and is grappling with issues of diversity in its front office and coaching staffs, is not immune. The people within the game know it. If you spend even a few minutes on the social media feeds of NFL players, from journeyman to superstar, you know the football world will be impacted by this wave of emotion and cry for help.
In a year in which there were no OTAs or any practices at all at team facilities, and at a time when fans are not around for training camp and with no preseason games to be played, NFL players will not have a platform to truly express themselves for maximum impact until the real games start. They have been watching what has gone on in baseball and basketball and soccer, and they are ready to join the movement to end police brutality and continue the work first begun by Colin Kaepernick four years ago.
There will be protests and movements, and should there be another killing of an unarmed African American person by police that is captured on video during this season, no one should be surprised if the men of the NFL respond in a very similar way to what we have just seen in the NBA and WNBA and MLB and MLS.
“Something like what happened in Wisconsin happens next month and it could shut the entire league down,” said a longtime executive from one of the NFL’s more successful teams. “The precedent has been set.”
Make no mistake – widespread demonstrations from NFL players were already coming. And that was never changing, even in the best of times. Jacob Blake being shot in the back seven times by police, and the ensuing movement by professional athletes, has ratcheted up the situation exponentially, and football players are every bit as heartbroken and despondent and angry and disgusted by this latest instance of police brutality.
Let’s keep it real here for a moment. I covered the NHL for about a decade and broke into this business covering MLB. If any sports were positioned to attempt to skirt these issues or not wade in, it was these. They are predominantly white and the Stanley Cup playoffs are being halted for at least two days – after already being stunted and altered by a pandemic – because another black man was shot by police in the street.
There is every reason to believe that we will see a delay of some sort during the NFL season that is not in any way related to COVID-19. And should players taking a knee become as intertwined into an election as it was four years ago, things could get particularly messy. These players are fed up and pissed off, and anything less than a full-throated repudiation of presidential attacks on them for enacting their constitutional rights could be met with drastic consequences when it comes to game day, or games being played at all.
The stakes are too high and the tension is too raw and the emotion too visceral. This is about much more than football.
What the Milwaukee Bucks did will have ripples and ramifications for years to come. They shifted the labor/management paradigm in ways not before fathomable. They may have shifted the balance of power in the player’s favor for good.
The Bucks hit the pause button on the NBA playoffs in the most public of fashions in an attempt to focus America’s attention on issues so drastically more important than sports. On issues, quite literally, of life and death. And so many immediately followed.
And they did it amid a power dynamic that has never changed: almost exclusively white owners and rosters that are overwhelmingly black. These actions and the immediate movement the Bucks decision spawned is an attempt to send a signal to these owners and to these commissioners and to these league’s broadcast partners and sponsors that merely putting out a press release that says Black lives matter is not going to suffice anymore.
The product has the power — not the leagues or the owners — and the players are the product.
That timeless adage in sports management that fans cheer for the name on the front of the jersey and not the back is suddenly being challenged in ways none of us could have imagined a few weeks ago. If the game isn’t played because there is more blood in our streets, then the fans aren’t cheering for the front or the back. And the networks and sponsors aren’t selling any beer or cars during the timeouts. The commerce of sports grinds to a halt.
And now these players are saying very explicitly, yet without actually saying a word in many cases, that the status quo is no longer good enough. It’s time for management to invest in their labor with those same resources and political clout in ways they could have never before fathomed. And more to the point, to invest in the very communities that produced these world class athletes in a way that most of these owners could have never before fathomed.
That is where this is going. And it will be political. And it will ramp up and reach a crescendo before Nov. 3.
Expect much more interaction and mobilization among the most prominent athletes across all pro sports leagues. They are seeing their ability to affect change and bend others to their will like never before. I suspect there will be Super PACs and organized grassroots political groups and activism like we have never seen before, and quite likely more games postponed because athletes are appalled by what is going on in our streets. The NFL’s players are paying close attention. You should be too.
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