The Wednesday decision by NBA, WNBA, and Major League Baseball players to refuse to play their games in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting (as it stands as the most recent example of police brutality against people of color) has to have the NFL worried as its regular season is just two weeks away. The league has done its best to navigate the complications of a pandemic, but the specter of player-led cancellations of games is now on the table, and it’s not likely to go away anytime soon. NFL players have already intimated that it’s about more than the games right now.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, who has long been on the vanguard of the idea that his players have legitimate concerns in this regard, said Wednesday that it’s easy to imagine what’s happened in other sports could happen in the NFL.
“You know, anything is possible,” Carroll said Wednesday afternoon. “I mentioned to the players, this the season of protest. So we’ll handle ourselves as we do. But this is a protest that doesn’t have an end to it until all the problems go away, and we solve issues and stuff. So we’re going to do our part and continue to work to stay actively involved and continue to stay in touch with the situations that are going on by staying on the topics, just in hopes that we can be there to help and support when we can and have influence where we can. The whole Black Lives Matter thing couldn’t be more obvious how true this whole movement is, and how much focus and change needs to come. It’s just so clear. I hope we can do something to help.
“The one thing we’re not, is we’re not numb to it. We’re in tune, the guys are feeling it, it’s topical, and we know that we have to do something. Like everybody that cares on the right side of this whole issue, you worry that you can’t do enough, you worry that you can’t be effective enough to create the change that we need. So we’ll continue to stay on it and continue to talk and do what we can.”
On Tuesday, Carroll also set up a meeting between his players and New Jersey senator Cory Booker to further discuss these issues.
“We had a really nice visit last night with Cory Booker, he visited with our team, and he helped us with a number of areas just trying to find the understanding and the potential for the change, and the thinking that’s so important for us to stay with it,” Carroll said. “He emphasized to us that everybody has a voice now, everybody can speak out and the guys can have an effect on the people who follow them and watch them. Everybody has social media, every one of our guys has a big following, to some extent, and so they have people that care what they think about. And so he urged us to really think about what we want to say to those people, and know that we do have the power to have effect. It was really, really a big evening for us, and there will be more to come.”
Carroll isn’t just whistling Dixie here — when I spoke to him in June about the ability of NFL players to speak their truths to power, he was as passionate and specific about the subject as any NFL coach has ever been.
“I don’t think players have been respected for what they have brought to our society,” Carroll told me. “They’ve brought us the game, and an allegiance to our areas, and what we love and stand for and all of that, and they have risked so much to do that. Without them, we have nothing, Over the course of time, our players have become more versed, and more prepared to have so much to offer as we move forward. Their vision and their connection to what’s going on culturally and socially is at the essence of what’s going on right now.
“So, we should be listening to them. And I always have – I’ve always felt like that. This isn’t new. But it’s more important now than ever. Because there are a lot of white guys who don’t know what they need to know, right? And there’s a lot to be learned. There’s a lot to understand. Our history has not worked properly for us to understand the real truth and reality of what’s going on in the world of minority groups – people who deserve the same love and consideration that everybody does. So, hopefully, through listening and positioning our players… they’ve got to find their voices too, so their voices can be constructive and productive. They want to, and they will, if we give them a chance.
“It’s challenging for leadership to give the voice to the people. It’s supposed to be that way in our society, but it’s challenging, and most of the people on top try to control it. They try to manage it so they get what they want out of it. That’s not what I’m seeing here. I think it will work to our betterment if our players do have the voice, and they do have the leadership opportunities, and we follow along with them, they’re going to help us where we need to go. Particularly now.
“75% of our league is Black players. And they have the wisdom it’s necessary for us to learn from. Without an understanding of their story, we don’t understand what’s going on in the world. I’m talking about white people [not understanding]. We have to position them [Black players] to speak and teach us.”
The dams are bursting in this regard. More than ever, athletes are realizing that their value on the diamond, and on the court, and on the gridiron, means that they can come together and make resonating statements that echo far beyond the sports they play.
There’s only been one player boycott of a game in pro football history beyond organized player strikes — when Black American Football League players refused to play in the 1964 All-Star game unless the game was moved out of New Orleans, where the players experienced severe racist invective. The stakes aren’t any higher now — back then, police brutality was just as much or more of a problem as it is now. But police brutality has been uncovered far more frequently, and athletes have aligned themselves as never before to the idea that they can use their platforms to hopefully enact changes that desperately need to be made.
Could that include the cancellation of games in the NFL’s regular season? As Carroll said, anything is possible. At certain times, it’s required to take a step back and understand that there are more important things than sports.
