Eagles DB says plenty without talking
PHILADELPHIA – YOU AREN’T LISTENING.
Malcolm Jenkins presented his message in the simplest yet blackand-white form he could think of: in all-caps, written in Sharpie on poster boards.
Journalists encircled the Philadelphia safety and social justice leader, eager to hear his thoughts on President Trump’s decision to revoke the football team’s invitation to visit the White House this week as celebration of February’s Super Bowl victory.
But Jenkins did not talk, aloud that is. His bearded face remained emotionless as reporters hurled questions at him. To each he simply raised an-
other sign, many of which bore statistics — sobering numbers about people of color or juveniles who are wrongfully imprisoned and the topic of police brutality on African-American men.
“What does that have to do with not going to the White House yesterday?” one reporter called out.
“Malcolm, do you feel it was fair for the president to cancel the White House trip even though a large majority of the team wasn’t going?” another asked.
“Are you upset with the White House for canceling the event?” came another.
Fair? Upset? Over a canceled trip to the White House?
Jenkins had it right with the “YOU AREN’T LISTENING” poster.
Jenkins and most Eagles didn’t give a flip about a yanked White House invitation. They weren’t going anyway.
The unfairness that they’re upset over involves those faced daily by people of color, at-risk youth and povertystricken Americans.
Most Eagles had no desire to rub shoulders with Trump, who lacks a sympathetic ear on such issues. He’s the same person who last fall referred to any player who kneeled as a “son of a (expletive)” for protesting during the playing of the national anthem, using a visible moment to raise awareness about police brutality and other social injustices. The president did not engage on the issues driving the protests and instead painted players as anti-patriotic and unappreciative of the military.
So as the president again bashed the NFL to spew his propaganda, making the canceled visit a matter of respect for The Star-Spangled Banner, Jenkins and his teammates stuck to their message.
Jenkins’ poster-board responses stuck to the original intent:
❚ “More than 60 percent of people in prison are people of color.”
❚ “Nearly, 20,000 juveniles enter the adult criminal system each year, most for non-violent crimes.”
❚ “In 2018, 439 people shot and killed by police (thus far). In U.S. Pop. — 8 percent African-American males; Shot by police — 25 percent African-American males”
❚ “Any given night, 500,000 sit in jail. Convicted? No. Too poor? Yes.”
Jenkins’ other posters displayed a lengthy list of NFL players, which he called “TRUE PATRIOTS” because of their charitable work. Many of those players were his fellow members of the Players Coalition, which worked with the NFL’s owners to secure $90 million for social justice efforts over the next several years.
The list of players included exiled quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who according to Jenkins has now given $1 million to charity. Another was Jenkins’ Eagles teammate Chris Long, who donated his entire 2017 salary to Philadelphia schools.
All of the above mattered; not the accusations leveled this week by Donald Trump. Making a difference remains Jenkins’ only goal, and the same goes for the bulk of his teammates.
Long also faced a barrage of ques- tions. He did speak, but avoided getting caught in a war of words with the president. Like Jenkins, Long understands that’s what feeds Trump and his supporters, and they recognize that accusations of anti-patriotism or disrespect for the military are nothing more than illinformed opinions and distraction tactics.
None of those ploys can detract from their true mission, Long said.
“I don’t feel like the work these guys are doing in the community can be hijacked,” he said. “You’ve got guys like Malcolm doing tremendous work in the community dealing with criminal justice reform, meeting with legislators. We’ve got a bunch of guys doing great work in their community, and really all across the league. Some of the best men I know are guys I’ve met that are pro football players and who really had the opportunity to not give a crap about people with less than them, but they do it anyway. They go in the community to help people who have less and use their platform well.”
Ever since Kaepernick began taking a knee during the national anthem two years ago to raise awareness of the po- lice violence against people of color, and as the movement grew last season and became a national debate, opponents of the protest have tried to tell football players to “stick to sports.”
But they’re missing the point. With his stunt this week, the president succeeded in a few regards. He further strengthened his standing in the eyes of the far-right wing crowd, who cling to their ideals and gulped down his narrative with little to no concern for the facts. And he further alienated the portion of the population fighting for equality and reform.
He again used the NFL — the country’s most powerful sports league and the exclusive club to which Trump tried in vain to gain membership with a failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014 — as his pawn. But beyond that, he accomplished nothing noteworthy.
Our country, despite ages of efforts toward unity, remains greatly divided. At a time when the White House to some NFL fans are telling professional football players how to conduct themselves, perhaps a better solution is to take a page from their playbook.
Get to know each other.
“One of the beautiful things about the NFL is you have a true melting pot of guys from all over the country,” said Eagles center Jason Kelce, who declined to say if he planned to attend the White House, because it is now irrelevant.
“You’ve got guys from rural America, guys from inner city Detroit, guys that have grown up in upper class, to middle class, to guys that have grown up in single-parent households and have nothing. I think there’s all sorts of different viewpoints and different beliefs, and one thing you learn quickly in this league is, everyone has different beliefs, but you learn to quickly put that aside and as a team you accomplish great things, you develop empathy and sympathy for one another, to learn and develop the ability to work together, and to be honest, I think our country could follow that a little bit more.”
That’s an American talking. He happens to play football.