Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is calling for social justice as protests spread across the country after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
On Instagram, Rodgers recalled in 2017 when other N-F-L players were kneeling during the anthem to protest racial injustice, Packers players were ripped for a show of solidarity standing with their arms linked together.
Rodgers wrote, “A few years ago we were criticized for locking arms in solidarity before the game. It has NEVER been about the anthem or a flag. Not then. Not now. Listen with an open heart, let’s educate ourselves, and then turn word and thought into action.”
Rodgers doesn’t mention Drew Brees in his post, but it comes after the New Orleans Saints quarterback’s comments that he would never kneel for social activism.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson did not want to talk about football during a video conference call Wednesday.
The former Wisconsin Badger told reporters, “none of that matters compared to life and what the black community is going through right now.” Wilson said,”the reality is that me as a black person, people are getting murdered on the street, people are getting shot down, and the understanding that it’s not like that for every other race.”
Wilson’s voice at times quivered in his first comments since George Floyd’s death while in police custody last week and the protests against police brutality it has sparked throughout the country.
He said his great-great grandparents were slaves and that he has always understood “that racism is real.”
