Larry Fitzgerald: Time for action
Cardinals wide receiver talks about race, protests, parenting and his hope for the future
Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald is equally adept at catching footballs and avoiding controversy. So, it wasn’t a surprise his first public words after George Floyd’s murder, via an essay in the New York Times last Sunday, were conciliatory, not inflammatory.
But words don’t have to inflame to have power. That was proven on Friday when Fitzgerald spoke to Arizona reporters for the first time since Floyd’s death. The conference call lasted almost 30 minutes and very little of it had to do with football.
Fitzgerald grew up in Minneapolis and still considers it home. So, his perspective is both unique and important.
Since most, or all, of you would rather hear from Fitzgerald than me, I’ll let his words take over most of this column. There is some editing for brevity and clarity.
Almost two weeks passed between the death of George Floyd (on May 25) and your essay. What were you doing in that time?
“I was in Arizona when it all happened. I had been contacted by, you name it, in terms of publications, papers, radio, TV (wanting) a comment. I felt like it was better for me to get home (Minnesota). So, I went home about 10 days sooner than I planned on it. I wanted to get home and participate in some of the protests and talk to some of the city leaders. Get kind of a pulse for really what was going on.
“Because if you watch FOX News, you’re going
“The people you want to hear from are the politicians. Because at the end of the day, they are the ones who truly affect the way we live our lives, the way our communities are policed, the sentencing of people
who commit crimes.”
Larry Fitzgerald
to be on the right. You watch CNN, you’re going to be on the left. I didn’t want the information I was receiving to be jaded, or to be misinformed. I wanted to not only get accurate information but also gauge what my true feelings and emotions would be like.
Where he was killed is less than a mile from where I spent the vast majority of my childhood. I wanted to really kind of emotionally engage in what was transpiring. I felt like if I gave quotes or went on TV to answer questions, it would be possibly to facilitate an article that someone else was penning. I felt like it was best for me to sit down for two weeks and to take notes from every single interaction I had with somebody. White, Black, police officer. I had a lot of conversations with a lot of different people."
Have you had to weigh, in your career, whether you should address hotbutton societal issues, as a high-profile athlete?
“No, not at all. For the most part, I try to stay out of politics. I take a little bit different stance. This is just me speaking, not all athletes. I really don’t care what somebody who can catch a football or dunk a basketball says, to be honest with you. I’m not influenced by some singer or rapper. The people you want to hear from are the politicians. Because at the end of the day, they are the ones who truly affect the way we live our lives, the way our communities are policed, the sentencing of people who commit crimes. Those are the people we need to focus our attention on because they are the ones who are most important in terms of the changes that are going to happen.”
Being in Minnesota, how closely have you been able to follow what’s happened here in Phoenix and what’s been your reaction to what’s transpired over the last couple weeks?
“I haven’t been following much. I talked to Governor Ducey a couple of weeks ago. Talked to the attorney general (Mark Brnovich), a bunch of people I respect in Arizona and trying to put out fires here in Minneapolis.
“I’m one of those people who believe it’s important now to just not do a lot of talking. I’ve said what I felt. I said what I believe to be right in my heart. Now it’s about the action. It’s about serving the community, closing the divide. That’s what my focus is now.”
What are the conversations like with your kids? What do you tell them?
“Primarily, I’ve had the conversations with my oldest. He’s 12 years old. Devin, he’s asked me a lot of questions. He's curious about this and curious about that. I take the honest approach. I never try to sugarcoat. I tell him exactly what I see and how I perceive it. I let him digest it the way he wants to. I think the better he’s equipped, at a young age, to be able to see the things the way they are, but also to understand things can be different and need to be different.
"It’s great to see him taking it all in. When we got back home (Minnesota) he was like, ‘Dad, I really want to go down to the protests.’ It was something I was really moved about so we went down to south Minneapolis and participated. I was really proud of him. It was great to see a young person, 12 years old, who hasn’t experienced anything like that, being socially aware. It gave me a lot of hope.”
It’s been a challenge for a lot of people who recognize there are issues now, but trying to figure out what they can do. Is there anything you can share? What the next steps are for you or anyone to take?
“The tensions, the racial tensions, they really come down to a lack of knowledge.
“It would be great if you didn’t see color. You didn’t recognize color. Unfortunately, it’s something we all do even if you don’t want to admit it. I think traveling around the world, 107 countries now I’ve been, I’ve met people from every single race. I’ve met people from every different religion. Men and women. Homosexual. Heterosexual. Transgender. And I’ve met great people in every single place I’ve gone. I’ve met great rich people. I’ve met great poor people. I just see people in a different light because I’ve seen and had some positive interactions with people all over the world.
"It’s more so about accepting people for who they are, and one day, I pray, we’ll be able to look at the color of a person’s skin no differently than the shirt that you’re wearing, or the shoe color that you have, or the color of your eyes and hair. We get to that point, the world will be a much better place but it’s going to take some time. It’s going to take some understanding. It’s going to take a lot of education and people opening their hearts to things they didn’t think it was possible. The way things are going, I think it’s a lot more feasible than at any other time in history."