It has been an eye-opening week for Jets quarterback Sam Darnold.
Last Sunday, Kenosha, Wisconsin resident Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by police with his children in the car. Protests against social and racial injustices in America soon followed across the country and in the sports world. On Thursday, New York canceled practice and spent more than four hours discussing the shooting and racial issues.
Darnold was an active participant in the conversations, using them as a chance to educate himself on a subject he admits he was unfamiliar with growing up in California.
“For me, especially growing up in Orange County in southern California, a predominantly white neighborhood, it was important for me to hear stories from my teammates about how they grew up,” Darnold said on Saturday. “I think for all of us it was a great opportunity to educate ourselves and understand where people are coming from.
“It was a great opportunity these last couple days for me to sit back, listen, educate myself and understand where my teammates are coming from on these issues and I’m right there with them and I feel their pain.”
Numerous Jets players have voiced their thoughts on the Blake shooting, with Marcus Maye being the first to address the story on Tuesday. Le’Veon Bell, Jamison Crowder, Jonotthan Harrison, Bradley McDougald, La’Mical Perine and assistant head coach/linebackers coach Frank Bush followed suit.
On Saturday night, New York released a video touching on social and racial issues in the United States. The video features numerous Jets players, as well as head coach Adam Gase, general manager Joe Douglas and CEO and acting owner Christopher Johnson. It ends with players and members of the organization on the practice field saying “enough is enough” in unison.
Enough is enough. pic.twitter.com/wk7lJh3zM5
— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 30, 2020
“It was a great opportunity for us as teammates to talk about the events that have been going on in this country,” Darnold said. “It was great for everyone to voice how they feel. It’s not an easy situation and it was a great opportunity for guys, like I said, to just say how they feel and then organizationally for us to ask, ‘how can we help?’
“When it comes to policy and different things like that, how we can help enact change or affect change. I think it was very important for us as players to let our organization understand how we feel and they were right there with us.”