Schwartz hopes we can now bring light to rising issues of anti-Semitism following DeSean Jackson’s harmful Instagram posts.
As one of the most prominent Jewish players in the NFL, Kansas City Chiefs RT Mitchell Schwartz is taking a stand against anti-Semitism and hate in all forms.
This comes following an incident with Philadelphia Eagles WR DeSean Jackson, where he shared a number of anti-Semitic posts on Instagram that included quotes attributed to Adolf Hitler and admiration for controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Schwartz and Jackson were teammates at University of California in college.
Jackson later apologized for his posts claiming the posts were misinterpreted. The Eagles organization and the NFL both released statements, prompting another apology from Jackson for sharing quotes he now deems “offensive” and “harmful.”
On Wednesday evening, Schwartz responded with some of his thoughts on the situation in what was a powerful call for understanding, unity and action against hatred.
“As a Jewish American in the NFL, I stand with my brothers of all races and creeds against any form of discrimination and hate,” Schwartz began. “One of the things that makes our game so great is the diverse background of the guys in the locker room, not just from a racial standpoint but from a religious one as well. Although in my personal experience my teammates have always been supportive and interested in my faith. Anti-Semitism is on the rise in this country. Tragedy after tragedy, the number of hate crimes against Jews has reached record levels in the past few years.
“My hope is we can use this moment to shed light on and bring awareness to the hate and oppression the Jewish Community still faces while standing strong with the Black Lives Matter movement. We can only have change if we denounce racism and bias in all its forms. Our platforms as athletes are a powerful tool, and with them comes immense responsibility. We can all do better.”
On Thursday evening, Schwartz appeared on CNN Tonight with Don Lemon to talk about Jackson, anti-Semitism and the statement Schwartz released on Wednesday.
“The first thing is, you’re just surprised,” Schwartz said. “I think anytime Hitler’s name is attached to any sort of thing you’d imagine that people would kind of stay away from that. I think that was the first thing where you realize, ‘Hey, this probably wasn’t that great.’ Then you start reading it and you realize just how bad the wording was. I truly don’t think DeSean meant any sort of hate or anything. I think it came way more from a place of ignorance and that’s something that we’re seeing with him the past couple of days being able to reach out to different communities and learn more about them. But it’s bad. We’ve learned — especially the past couple of months — that we have to speak out when we see things that aren’t right. That wasn’t right and I’m glad people are speaking out about it.”
Schwartz believes that Jackson is taking the action necessary to redeem himself and will be in good hands learning from Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie with the Eagles franchise. Schwartz hasn’t reached out to Jackson, but he did give Lemon an idea of what he’d say to him if he had an opportunity to speak with him.
“I would just say that our platforms are immense,” Scwhartz told Lemon. “I think we’re realizing how much power we have, obviously on the field but also off as well. Social media in general is such a huge responsibility and we have to take that seriously. Just the past couple of months we’ve realized how much power we have and how we can change things for the better for our generations and future generations. Making sure that you’re kind of reading through everything a couple of times. . . We have an opportunity now to bring light to (the rise in anti-Semitism) and hopefully make change for the better.”
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