Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn is one of just three black head coaches in the NFL today, along with Brian Flores of the Dolphins and Mike Tomlin of the Steelers. You can bet that he’s aware of the shameful ramifications of that small percentage (9.4%), and what that means about his own need to speak out regarding what’s going on in America today.
In a recent interview with LZ Granderson of the Los Angeles Times, Lynn laid it all out for anyone who wanted to hear — from the state of the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death, to Colin Kaepernick, to the need to make the world a better place for his own kids.
It was a remarkable series of statements — just as important as the statements made by Flores and Colts head coach Frank Reich in recent days, and even more pointed.
“I’ve read some good statements,” Lynn told Granderson when asked why he didn’t just release a statement. “I read Brian Flores’ from the Dolphins and I agree 100% with him. I read Doc Rivers’ statement and those guys spoke from the heart. I think statements are needed to bring awareness to the situation. But I want to do something too. I don’t want to just put [a statement] out there because it’s the right thing to do. I want change . . . so I guess it starts with having this conversation and talking things out. In 1992 I remember watching L.A. burn and here we are in 2020 and I’m watching it again and it just hit me, nothing has changed.”
So, what can be done, Granderson asked.
“I want to make this a better world for the next generation and not just for minorities, but for everybody. I believe in diversity, I believe in inclusion and if you believe in that, you can’t just stand silent. You can’t just stand on the sidelines and just watch. You got to say something, man. The thing that bothered me the most about [the] George Floyd murder was the three officers that said nothing. The guy who did it, yeah, he’s a [expletive], but the three who stood by and did absolutely nothing … I’m just stunned by that. I see that going on in every organization. I see good people saying nothing and doing nothing, allowing this to happen.”
Lynn also separated himself from any party line that would release generic “why can’t we just get along” statements without candid talk of what must be done.
“We have so many videos of unarmed black men dying over the last decade and there’s no accountability, there are not consequences, like it’s OK,” he said. “I just didn’t expect that at this point in time. What we’ve been doing is obviously not working and so we need to do something different. If it’s radical, then it’s radical. And I want to be a part of that.”
George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests were a wake-up call for a lot of people. And now, with the distance of time and hindsight, Lynn says that Colin Kaepernick’s protests against police brutality were misunderstood from the start.
People completely misunderstood Colin and what he was trying to do. People talked about disrespecting the flag . . . the flag covers a lot —patriotism and civil rights and other things. And Colin was speaking out against the injustice and a lot of people didn’t catch on to that because it was happening during the national anthem. They thought it was disrespectful to the flag. I was surprised by the number of people who didn’t know why he was protesting. I got letters from people. I had people walk up to me and ask, “Coach, what are you going to do if someone on your team protests?” And I had to explain to them that Colin is taking a knee for criminal justice [reform] and police brutality and once you broke it down, they were like, “Oh, we didn’t know that. We thought he was protesting the flag.” And that was the case for a lot of people I came across.
I thought it was a shame that Colin’s message got lost because people kept bringing up patriotism. It was brave for him to do that. I have a lot of respect for that young man standing up for something outside of the “Big 3” — God, family, football — and I have to say social justice right now is challenging my priorities. Right now I can’t think of anything besides social justice.
There’s a lot of that going around. Lynn also revealed that recently, he was pulled over while driving with some “unusual” circumstances.
“The lights come on, I pull over and the first thing the police officer asked [was] if I was on parole or if I had ever been to jail… before license and registration. Before he told me why he was pulling me over he asked if I was on parole or had I been to jail. It was a Friday and the reason why I know this is because we had to play Baltimore that weekend and I was worried if I went to jail, I wouldn’t get out in time. If I didn’t have the game, I would have gone off.”
Think about that for a second. Think about a white coach having to worry about not making a game because he would be in jail on what Lynn called a “bogus” charge. The fact that you can’t imagine it is but one reason why these protests are happening.
In the end, Lynn said, he is here saying these things so people don’t have to in years to come. Of course, people thought that after the Rodney King riots and so many other examples of protest brought about by subjugation, but here we are. And kudos to the coach for saying it plainly, all the way.
Lynn’s team seems to agree.
leadership. https://t.co/cVNwbNwQ24
— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) June 2, 2020