Ever since the protests began about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody, there has been a shift in society about issues of race and justice. Many are having hard and meaningful conversations about race and racial perspectives.
This is happening between NFL players on different teams and it is the case with the Arizona Cardinals.
Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries said the conversations with his teammates about these tough topics have been productive.
He believes the world actually needs to be more like a group of offensive linemen on a team.
“It’s very interesting,” he said in a video conference with the media on Monday. “The O-line room is so mixed with cultures and I feel like if the world was like the O-line room, the world, it would be so much kumbaya, it would be a lot chunkier.”
He explained how the conversations have been meaningful. He, a Black man and Justin Pugh, who is white, discussed the differences in experiences with the police.
Humphries said the talks have been “breaking down those barriers” for him and his teammates. And he admits they are conversations he wouldn’t likely have elsewhere.
“I wouldn’t have ever known this because I wouldn’t ever have been comfortable to have those conversations,” he said.
Humphries’ offensive line teammates are both black and white. He has played with islanders and more.
“It’s been fun,” said. “We depend on each other and are used to rubbing shoulders with a mix of cultures.”
Humphries’ analogy is accurate. If all in society could depend on each other and be used to working together with other cultures and backgrounds, maybe there wouldn’t be as many problems.
Sure, we might be a heftier, chunkier people, but we would be happier, too. And we’d get to knock down our opponents.
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Ep. 268
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Ep. 267
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