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Bradley McDougald is angry. He’s downright frustrated and sad.
The New York Jets safety is also extremely worried.
Within the confines of the team’s facility, McDougald is a respected pro football player whose main concern is stopping the offense. When he heads home and turns onto the main road just a few hundred yards away, he goes on the defense. His guard goes up just as it has most of his life.
“Guys are sick and tired of being sick and tired,” McDougald said Wednesday during a video conference call.
He has seen the video of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and he doesn’t want to end up like him. Or, George Floyd. Or, Breonna Taylor. Or, the countless other Black men and women who have been victims of police brutality or social injustice.
“Me personally, I’m hurt by the whole situation,” McDougald said. “I’m an African-American man and that easily could’ve been me. As soon as I walk out of 1 Jets Drive, I’m just another black man — and I don’t know how the cops are going to see me.
“I have dreads and tattoos and I’m bigger than the average male, but I don’t know how that cop is going to view me, and the attitude and aggression he’s going to give me.”
Blake, 29, was shot, apparently in the back, on Sunday 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 the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer touched off a nationwide reckoning over racial injustice.
“I just don’t understand how somebody could – somebody who is unarmed, family in the car — how he could be a threat,” Dolphins safety Kavon Frazier said. “I just don’t understand. We’re lost. We’re scared. I’m scared. I drive a pretty nice car and I’m scared if I get pulled over, that could happen to me.”
The Detroit Lions canceled their practice Tuesday, protesting the incident involving Blake, and racial injustice. The players and coaching staff discussed what happened and then filed out of the team’s practice facility. They used a dry-erase board to address the media with the words: “The world can’t go on” and “We won’t be silent!! One pride.”
The rest of the NFL saw what the Lions did, and has come together with their own discussions about social issues and how they might be able to affect change.
“At this time, everybody needs to come together and join hands and love each other for what we are and the privilege we have in the short period of time we have on Earth,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who is white. “As opposed to walking in fear, to walk with strength and pride. And if we do that, we’ll be a great example to the world.”
Eagles coach Doug Pederson, who is also white, thought what the Lions did was “a great sign of unity, a sign of …read more
Source:: Houston Sports
