As the public outcry over the death of George Floyd moves into a second week, public figures across the sporting world are addressing the incident and the chorus of voices screaming for change both among their teams, and on social media.
One of the latest figures to address these issues is New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. On Tuesday Payton tweeted out a pair of images: George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed in Georgia while jogging. Payton did not mince words in his social media post:
Were Murdered
not Killed on Video.
How many have we not seen?
22 weeks from today for change. pic.twitter.com/I88yImjCLf— Sean Payton (@SeanPayton) June 2, 2020
Payton’s statement raises a larger point about the current context of the moment. Social media, body cameras, dashboard cameras, and the camera phone, have allowed the American people and the world to see incidents like the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. But these are recent inventions. How many others, Payton asks, have we not seen?
This is the message behind many of the protests that have unfolded over the previous eight days. That these are not isolated incidents, and that these incidents are part of a larger discussion that needs to take place, and that is long overdue.
As NFL coaches look to the opening of training camps, and contemplate addressing these issues with their players, the statement from Payton might be one that others model. Payton might be the next step in the paradigm shift that needs to take place both within the NFL, the larger sports world, and the world at large.
To that end, Payton ends his tweet with a reference to “22 weeks from today for change,” a clear reference to the next national election in the United States.