FIVE QUESTIONS WITH MICHAEL JOHNSON
The Cincinnati Bengals announced this past week that Michael Johnson is their nominee for the 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.
Johnson has been involved in community service since his rookie season in 2009. His MJ93-90 Fund is dedicated to educating children.
From the 32 nominees the league will announce three finalists at the NFL Honors awards special Feb. 3, the night before the Super Bowl.
The league donates $500,000 in the winner’s name and $100,000 each in the name of the two other finalists. The other nominees each receive $50,000 for their charities. Johnson talked about his nomination and his history of charity work for this week’s Bengals High 5:
Q: I know you don’t do the work you do in the community to get accolades, but what does it mean to you to be nominated for something as prestigious as the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award?
A: You’re right, I’m not big on getting recognition. The main thing is it puts you in position to receive funding to further the causes. That’s what’s most important, is continue being a positive change in the community.
Q: When you came in as a rookie, who was the teammate who inspired you to do this kind of work and create a foundation?
A: I was doing that type of stuff my whole life. I think the first community service thing I did was in high school. I went around and repainted old people’s houses. I can’t remember what group that was called, but I’ve always been involved in community work and outreach groups. It continued in college and it continued here as well.
Q: Was that something where you needed to get community service hours as a requirement to graduate and that sparked a passion?
A: No. I’m from a small town (Selma, Ala.) and everybody knows everybody, everybody helps out everybody. That’s just what you do. ... You’re brought up with that mindset. ... I just hope more people will pick up the mindset and spread it along. You can sit around and complain how things are. You can post on Facebook and Instagram. But at the end of the day, what’s going to be your action? What are you going to do to improve whatever it is you don’t like?
Q: You’ve started a program where you have children and police officers volunteer together. Where did that idea come from?
A: The idea came from when Colin (Kaepernick) decided to protest and take a knee last year. That really opened up my eyes to pay attention to the problem that’s going on around the country. ... It’s baby steps, but that’s something I saw as a part of the solution. ... I had previously worked with kids in fifth through eighth grades and taught them about overcoming obstacles and setting your vision and setting your path for the rest of your life and breaking cycles that you may be a part of. But with (Kaepernick) being so hot and heavy of a topic, I was like “Hey, we need to attack this.” People always ask me, “What’s your mission? What’s your thing?” It’s positive change.
Q: Is it hard to get people to understand the concept of, like you said, baby steps, when so many want to see change right now?
A: It doesn’t work like that at all.
You look at this country and slavery ended in 1865. Sharecropping was going on where I’m from up until the 1960s and 1970s. My daddy grew up a sharecropper. That’s one step up from slavery. So sometimes it takes generations to really change things. But if more people begin to work toward the change, maybe it could happen faster, maybe not. But you’ve got to start taking steps in the right direction.