Stills reaffirms role-model status
DAVIE, Fla. – Every team needs a player like Kenny Stills. Check that. Every team needs more than a few good men like the Miami Dolphins receiver.
It helps the football purpose that he can haul in a spiral on a deep post and seal the edge on a sweep.
But we’re talking conscience here. Stills had the courage on Wednesday to slam Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for looking like a major league hypocrite in planning to host a fundraiser for President Donald Trump on Friday in the Hamptons. Ross, as Stills noted in a tweet, is also the man who established RISE – the Ross Initiative in Sports and Equality – a non-profit that pledges to eradicate the type of racial animosity that Trump fuels.
Yes, Ross signs Stills’ paychecks. No matter. It’s the principle. Stills has no qualms about calling it as he sees it, even if it means putting on full blast the team owner who has routinely supported him through numerous social actions and protests during the national anthem.
Stills posted the RISE mission statement on Twitter – including the part declaring that it aims to educate and empower the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice and improve race relations – to allow social media followers to see for themselves.
No, we can’t question Stills’ heart. He’s one of just three NFL players, along with fellow Dolphins wide receiver Albert Wilson and Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, who has still taken a knee during the anthem with the spirit that got Colin Kaepernick blackballed from the league. In recent offseasons, he’s hopped in an RV with some pals for a proactive, fact-finding tour that has taken him through communities dealing with assorted social issues … as well as historical landmarks like the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
Now this.
Hardly a shock to me. I visited with Stills after practice this week – he was the last man off the practice field because he kept signing autographs and taking selfies with kids in sticky, high-90s heat – and found him to be so resolute in continuing to use his NFL platform to serve a greater good.
With the same spirit that he tweeted on Wednesday, Stills, in the wake of tragedies last weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, expressed his concern about the multitude of mass shootings in our nation – and the tepid response from so many lawmakers. Yes, the Dolphins still have a resident voice of conscience.
“We need common-sense gun laws to try to get rid of some of these automatic weapons,” Stills told USA TODAY Sports. “Honestly, I think other nation have laid the foundation or shown how it can be done. We talk about being the greatest country in the world, but sometimes we’ve got to follow what other people have done. There are other countries that have done a better job of keeping their people safe. We should get with them and figure out, ‘Hey, how are you doing this? How can we institute some of the laws and things that you are doing to make our people feel safe?’ “
Stills acknowledged that he hasn’t been very active in pushing for reforms for gun laws, although he participated in the 2018 March for Our Lives in Washington that was organized by high school students. Then again, Stills – the Dolphins’ Man of the Year for three consecutive years for his community service – has been busy pursuing so many social justice initiatives and engaged in building bridges between police and the African-american community. Like Kaepernick, he is appalled by instances in which unarmed African-americans were killed by police.
The least he can do regarding some issues, Stills said, is to use his visibility to spread messages while educating himself and others.
“It’s not that complicated,” he said of reforming gun laws. “It’s all about money and fear. We’ve got to start taking automatic weapons out of people’s hands so that they don’t do the type of damage that they’re doing.”
Then Stills alluded to another factor – one that connects some dots to his tweet on Wednesday involving Ross. He didn’t mention Trump by name, but there’s no doubt about who he’s talking about.
“We’ve got to get a person that’s leading us to stop inputting fear into people’s minds,” Stills said. “That’s what everything is based on, all these decisions and tragedies that are happening. … It’s all about fear.”
Stills knows all too well that in this polarized society, there’s a segment of the population diametrically opposed to whatever he’s expressing – which is a shame. His is a valuable voice. Before training camp, he hosted a mental health camp to shed light on those issues. He also had no qualms in acknowledging he sought counseling after being diagnosed with a mild form of depression that stemmed from the vitriolic feedback he endured – including death threats – for his protests during the anthem.
“I’m just like anybody else,” Stills said. “I’ve got to do more listening than speaking.”
Like more of us should – and I’m not just singling out high-profile athletes – he’s willing to commit to action for a cause.
“Athletes are people, too,” Stills said. “I bleed blood like everybody else. But I try to relate to people, to show them this is how I got to where I am (on social issues). How can I help you? How can I use the little bit of knowledge that I have to help you go where you want to go?”
Stills doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but he sure expresses a lot of common sense that in so many ways illustrates that he is clearly, well, a man on the rise.