In response to the ongoing protests stemming from the death of unarmed African-American man George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis last week, the Cleveland Browns released a statement supporting the quest to end racism.
The statement, signed by Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, VP Andrew Berry, head coach Kevin Stefanski and others in the executive office, aims to build the spirit of community and cooperation to overcome the racial and political divides. It was also signed by the Columbus Crew management, which is also owned by the Haslam’s.
From the press release:
Sports can be a great unifier in our communities for what teams do on the field and we must work together to elevate our efforts and our actions to ensure that we can be a positive and productive change agent off the field.
With yet more tragic deaths, we, as a nation and as individuals, must truly create meaningful dialogue, have difficult conversation, demonstrate real empathy and take productive and non-violent action to address injustices.
These are complex issues that no sports team can solve on its own. We can only help create change by working together with our community, our players and our entire region to find solutions.
We take great pride in our city and in our region and recognize the suffering in the African American community throughout the country. Although, we, like many others have worked to advocate for social justice, now more than ever, we must do even more to work collectively to end racism and bond together for justice and equality.
Several Browns players have spoken out supporting the same cause on their own social media outlets.