Matthew Stafford: ‘Police brutality, white privilege, racism — it’s all real’
Matthew Stafford normally eschews speaking out about anything. The Lions quarterback famously doesn’t have any social media, and he almost never veers away from the direct football questions during his press conferences throughout his long Lions career.
So it’s definitely noteworthy when Stafford pens a very personal, emotional discourse via The Player’s Tribune. And Stafford really opened up about why he can no longer just stick to football.
In the first-person article titled, “We Can’t Just Stick to Football”, Stafford shares his views on how important it was for the Lions to come together and speak out against social and racial injustice. He then shared a telling anecdote about a private workout this summer that illuminated to him just how pervasive the racial double-standards impact his Black teammates.
“Police brutality, white privilege, racism — it’s all real,” Stafford declares, and then reveals why he knows it to be true. He also noted,
“These are not political problems. These are human problems. It should not be seen as a political statement to discuss this stuff honestly.”
His note on the impact of teammate Trey Flowers’ discussion on what it’s like to be Black and get pulled over for a simple traffic infraction is not something you expect to hear from Stafford. That’s why it’s so important that he said them.
Stafford concludes the piece,
All I can ask you to do, as we continue through this NFL season, is to close your eyes and really put yourself in other people’s shoes. Try for a minute to put all the social media and the politics and the arguing aside, and look within yourself.
Ask yourself hard questions.
But more than anything, listen.
It’s time.
It’s definitely worth your time to listen to Stafford and check out the full article on The Player’s Tribune.
