Sports strikes & other sports world responses to Kenosha

Wait now. I’m the snowflake for accepting players boycotting their sport for two whole days… and you’re the big tough guy who’s whining that his sports safe space is interrupted for a short period of time. So I have that right? https://t.co/aq7YMWweZS

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) August 28, 2020

WR Robert Woods – 8/27

(On his reaction to what has been happening recently with the boycotts by other teams and sports)
“I think it’s very critical. Everybody has been aware; I’ve been saying that. Now, I feel like it’s just trying to actually affect people. I think NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball, they’re affecting people’s pockets, where it hurts. Right now, we’re still in training. Right now, we’re just trying to use our voices, use our platform to actually affect change. Like I said, everybody is aware and now it’s time to action. You see what the NBA is doing, they’re stopping what they’re doing just to go out and get in the field. That was kind of like my take on it – if we cancel practice, we need to take action – take a bus and go somewhere and get some changes done. Not just to cancel practice and have a moment of silence or just sit at home. I think it’s time to actually get involved, that’s what we were discussing this morning. We had a leadership meeting. Getting in some of our players’ pockets, going out and trying to change stuff in our actual community. Try to challenge teams around the whole league to just – it’s time to get involved. The politics are all ran by money. It’s time to encourage these politicians to make the right changes, the right laws and make these right adjustments.”

(On why he feels it’s so important to vote and if he’s been able to rally teammates to also get behind the message)
“You’ve got to be able to vote. It’s so political now, this game, first you get into it, you want to stay away from race, politics and religion. But now, that’s all that we’re talking about. You’ve got to be involved. It’s not just speaking, it’s actually changing, changing laws, getting things implemented. You see what happened with Breonna Taylor – the cops, I feel like they’re murders and they’re still out on the street. Change needs to happen. It comes down to laws and policies that are allowing these people to still be free. I think if we actually vote and make these changes, get these things implemented, I think justice will be served; people will be held accountable. The punishment will be a lot more serious and a lot more people will be thinking about their actions and being able to do correct and do right.”

(On how he describes the general feeling of the team and his teammates surrounding these issues)
“I think it’s everybody. You kind of felt the vibe this morning. You see what’s going on with a lot of other teams, our team is rallying behind each other. We’re all asking questions to each other – what are we going to do? We had some players mad because they weren’t involved in that meeting. We were saying we were gathering information; we were going to have a team meeting later. Some players want to be involved right now. Everybody is feeling like it’s time for action, we need to get involved. We need to go down and sit with the mayor, sit with LAPD, sit with our school boards, all of these things. I feel like it’s time for action. Like I said, we have got to actually go down and speak to these people. We have leaders on this team, leaders in all communities around the United States. I think people were just fed up. You felt it today, people were hurt. You just felt that vibe that people are wanting to do something, wanting to do something else. This game is bigger than just football. This is life, we’re saying this is a human rights issue, not just Black lives, you see a lot of things going on, a lot of injustice going on between black races, Latino races, really everything. It’s a human rights issue.”

(On reaching out to other players on other teams to come together as a group in the NFL)
“Not as of yet. That’s exactly what we were talking on this morning. Right now, the LA-based teams – reaching out to the Chargers. We’re trying to create our own fund, we know the NFL will match it, but even if they do not, we want to decide where our money goes specifically, to what social injustice, what system we want to affect – whether it’s the school board, whether it’s the politician and his policy making. We want to be involved. Our goal right now is getting everybody that makes this team to commit to a certain amount then we are going to challenge other teams to match it. I think it will grow from there. There’s NFL teams all around the states, we definitely have a huge impact. Right now, we’ve just got to use our platform, use our voice. I saw (former NBA MVP) Bill Russell, he held out from a game, 59 or 60 years ago. We still see players doing that today. Slight changes, but we’re still protesting the same thing. Still asking for justice. Still asking for equality. The fight is never going to stop. We’ve got to keep pushing for equality and until we get it, we will still keep voicing our opinions.”

(On balancing emotions around social injustice and doing his job and preparing for the season)
“It’s tough. You want to compete. You want to get ready for the season. You definitely want to be playing football. I feel like even the basketball players, the Lakers, the Clippers, they definitely want to compete for a championship. It’s bigger issues and that’s kind of how it felt today. Coming to practice, our mind is kind of elsewhere. You want to be involved, but yet at the same time, you’ve still got to work. In between the lines, you’re definitely able to focus on football. Right now, outside of the lines, it’s definitely on our minds.

(On his feelings towards teams that did boycott practice and games)
“I feel like it’s good if you’re doing something. Like I said, I was for practicing. I was for cancelling practice if we were going to go out and do an action. If we cancelled practice, we needed buses here and we need to go down somewhere and implement change. The teams who did cancel practice, NBA players who did forgo the rest of their season, I would like to see action and not just go home and sit about it and say, ‘I raised awareness.’ It’s time for getting action. If you’re canceling something, where’s your time being dedicated to?”

(On his evolution to a role where he’s comfortable speaking on these issues and the personal journey to get to this point in his career)
“Yeah. I feel like honestly, (former 49ers QB) Colin Kaepernick paved the way for a lot of players to speak up on their mind. Everybody has opinions, he was kind of punished for his. Now just being able to speak out and voice our opinions how we feel. We have a coach who backs us, supports us and who’s really willing to fight with us. It’s all about equality. He said he grew up being taught to love all people, to love people. That’s really how it goes. We love a coach who is family based and family oriented. We’re able to speak on that. We are one big Rams family. We hope to encourage that for the whole city of Los Angeles – be a family, love everybody. That’s what we’re voicing out here. Go out and vote. Voice your opinion. Speak up. If you want to protest, protest. We always speak about unity and being a united group. Just being here, just growing up, developing, being able to speak, knowing my opinions as a man – as a black man – being able to speak my points and be involved in my city, L.A., I think it’s huge to be able to speak up.”

(On his progress on efforts to encourage voting)
“We’ve been posting, getting them involved. I want to personally go out, like I said, get people registered to vote if they’re not. Making sure people are out voting. People’s voices are heard. I think this a big, big political year. You see this is bigger than sports, it’s bigger than football. This is all about being a human being and being respectful to everybody.”

Pete Carroll using his platform to share very candid comments today. Read them in full if you haven't. Building mutual understanding in the workplace & everywhere else in society is so important to harvesting the very best out of all of us. Empathy & unity is always appreciated. https://t.co/0BDf1cZtJW

— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) August 29, 2020

Pete Carroll using his platform to share very candid comments today. Read them in full if you haven't. Building mutual understanding in the workplace & everywhere else in society is so important to harvesting the very best out of all of us. Empathy & unity is always appreciated. https://t.co/0BDf1cZtJW

— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) August 29, 2020

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