USA TODAY International Edition
Tom Brady’s move sends a clear signal to white athletes
Bell column: QB’s support of Players Coalition sends message on social matters.
It was a good thing to see Tom Brady among current and former NFL players, plus others, who signed on with the Players Coalition to demand a federal investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
In the 21⁄ years since it was estab
2 lished, we’ve come to increasingly expect the Coalition, largely consisting of African Americans, to voice resistance to matters that involve social justice.
But Brady – like most white players – typically takes a pass. What a message it sends now, however, for the NFL’s most popular figure to signify his support in this case. Like how heinous.
Arbery, an African American, was slain by Gregory and Travis McMichael, both white, in broad daylight in Georgia in February – and the assailants weren’t arrested until last week after footage of the brutal attack that police had in their possession for months became public.
No, Brady, like so many other people with a conscious, apparently couldn’t stomach that slaying – and the shoddy handling of the case by the authorities.
“It just goes to show that people are tired of ( the injustice) happening,” Anquan Boldin, the former receiver who co- founded the Coalition, said Monday on ESPN. “We’ve seen it over and over again, and far too long we’ve allowed it to go on and not speak out about it. So to have someone like Tom Brady sign the letter, it was very significant.”
Intended or not, “someone like Tom Brady” also sent another message that needs to resonate: White players can stand up, too, for social justice – and if it hits home with the general population to be similarly inspired, even better.
Think about how Martin Luther King Jr. put it: “To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it.”
Brady is not alone in his distinction as a white man lending his name ( or more, in some cases) to causes that strike a chord with minorities. Eagles quarterback Josh McCown and former defensive end Chris Long are on the Coalition’s task force board. Patriots receiver Julian Edelman, who demonstrated support for victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooting in 2018, was also among the 64 signers of the Arbery letter sent last week. Also signing were Warriors coach Steve Kerr, former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, and Patriots center David Andrews and tight end
Ryan Izzo.
To an overwhelming degree, though, it has been African American players using their platform to take up social causes – sadly, it cost Colin Kaepernick his NFL career for daring, during the national anthem, to protest the killings of multiple unarmed African Americans by police in 2016 – as a matter of responsibility to their communities. That’s natural in the sense that issues of inequality resonate because victims of social inequalities that include police brutality so often look like them. Boldin was moved to establish the Coalition after his cousin, Corey Jones, was shot to death by a plainclothes policeman in the middle of the night while he awaited emergency road service.
Yet while a number of African American players have in recent years picked up a tradition from previous generations in taking social stands or become more active politically, most white players have not been so moved to join in with minority teammates. That’s another reason why Brady’s gesture has added weight.
In an April interview with Howard Stern, Brady was asked if he ever felt “racial self- consciousness” or “guilt” as a white quarterback playing with predominantly African American teammates. He said, “Never. I never saw race. I think sports transcends race, it transcends wealth, it transcends all of that.”
Brady’s essential point was that, regardless of cultural differences, teammates have to find a way to handle their athletic business. Yet the response illustrated how easy it can be for some people to be oblivious to the world around them if they so choose.
High- profile black athletes are so often expected – if not publicly, then privately – to engage in issues that involve race as a matter of principle. Their white counterparts can undoubtedly escape controversy attached to social issues much more – though not always completely.
Now Brady’s exercising his right to make a statement – that might be felt in more ways than one.