Social justice issues are near and dear to the heart of Houston Texans safety Justin Reid. In 2016, Reid was playing for Stanford in the Bay Area, the epicenter of the national anthem kneeling controversy as San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was the first NFL player to take a knee.
One of Kaepernick’s ardent supporters was safety Eric Reid, Justin’s brother, who was with the 49ers at the time.
The NFL has evolved in its sensitivity towards social justice, particularly the systemic treatment of African-Americans in the United States. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police was the most recent act of police brutality against African-Americans that has released a torrent of emotions that could result in substantive change.
Texans coach Bill O’Brien gave players June 9 off to attend Floyd’s funeral in Houston, and he told reporters on June 3 that he has his team’s back.
“I’ve told my players since 2014 that I have their back,” said O’Brien. “I told my players in 2017, ‘I have your back,’ and I’ll continue to tell them that I have their back. If they need time to themselves, they can have time to themselves. If they need resources from us to try to begin to heal, we’ve got to help them, we have a lot of resources here to do that, they will get it.”
O’Brien’s sincerity is not lost on Reid.
“I’ve got all the respect in the world for OB,” Reid told the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson. “He had the public statement that he made publicly and also in a private team meeting. He let us have the opportunity to talk with him and give our opinion and feelings on what’s going on in the state of the country and what we can do about it. My true feelings are that him and [executive vice president] Jack (Easterby) and all the other guys are sincere.”
Reid remains optimistic, but what he hopes to see is how the conversations develop into “meaningful change.”
Said Reid: “What I’m going to be waiting to be seeing is how these conversations are going to go into the future and how we really start making some meaningful change and be a part of that. My first feelings I got from the conversation with him is that he is sincere and he’s going to do what he can to help.”
Reid collected 78 tackles, a tackle for loss, two interceptions, five pass breakups, and a fumble recovery in his 15 games with Houston in 2019.