Minnesota Vikings must go further than ‘unity’
Action, not optics, represents the big challenge for the NFL team pledging to make a difference, columnist Jarrett Bell writes.
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Ameer Abdullah likened the cases of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery -African-American men whose recent killings in broad daylight were captured on cellphone videos – to brutal body blows.
Abdullah, 27, a backup Minnesota Vikings running back, lives in the state where Arbery was brazenly chased and shot in Brunswick, Georgia – where authorities didn’t bother to make any arrests for months. He plays football in Minneapolis, where Floyd died as a police officer kneeled on his neck.
“Two gut-punches to me,” Abdullah reflected this week. “But it was also a wakeup call. This has been a persisting and prominent issue in America for centuries. We all know change doesn’t happen overnight ... (but) we have to learn from our history and fix a lot of things that are going on.”
Abdullah joined Vikings teammates Eric Kendricks and Anthony Harris, co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson, GM Rick Spielman and COO Andrew Miller on a Zoom conference to shed light on how they are processing the tragedies that continue to afflict African-Americans and other people of color. The death of Floyd, in the Vikings’ backyard, has fueled a massive protest movement across the nation (and internationally) that shines a light on police brutality, systemic racism and the need for reform.
Kendricks, the star linebacker whose initial reaction to Floyd’s death included publicly blasting the NFL for not using its platform and influence enough for social causes, talked about the need for “uncomfortable” conversations. Spielman, who with his wife Michelle is raising six adopted African-American children, bemoaned the stark reminder of how racism and hate still exists, and how he struggles to explain the “different worlds” within one American society to his children. Abdullah, whose father marched with MLK in Selma, Alabama and later fought in Vietnam, talked of a more focused lens now on police brutality. Patterson expressed hope that despite many instances in recent years of unarmed Black people dying while in the hands of police, Floyd’s death will have a greater impact in fueling reforms that many minorities (including, uh, Colin Kaepernick) have sought for decades.
“Through time, the Black community has been telling the world that this has been going on,” said Patterson. “And a lot of people didn’t want to believe that it was going on, that the person had to do something wrong to either get choked to death, shot or whatever. But this is the reason this one is different: The whole world got to see life leave that man’s body. So, that changed everything.”
We’ll see. The Vikings recognize that as a franchise for the most popular (and most prosperous) sports league in the nation, they are positioned with a powerful platform to send messages and seek to wield influence, among other actions.
In the months after Kaepernick launched the protest movement in 2016 that not only rocked the NFL universe but furthered the national conversation, the Vikings created a social justice committee that participants contend has done much to solidify the team’s internal culture while providing impetus for community service action. Those measures will help now, amid a new crisis and movement.
After Floyd’s death, the committee quickly established a legacy scholarship fund in Floyd’s name that will benefit African-American students. Last weekend, several Vikings met with Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo, reconnecting after previous meetings in recent years. Additionally, Vikings owners Zygi, Mark and Leonard Wilf pledged to donate $5 million to social justice causes.
“We can do things to create change if each individual will do their part, use their voice after listening and gaining a ton of knowledge, then we can all come together in a direction where we can make impactful change,” said Harris, 28, a sixth-year safety. “I just think it starts with a lot of dialogue from a lot of different perspectives.”
Sure, dialogue and listening are good things. It’s a start. And the message the Vikings say they will promote about unity – “We’re trying to be understanding
of each other and make the best decisions for society,” Harris says – sounds promising.
And it sounds like a lot of what we’ve heard before, like standard calls from the playbook of addressing social unrest.
A few years ago, many NFL teams promoted those unity themes with encouraging optics. The Vikings, like other teams, decided to lock arms with each other during the national anthem in a show of solidarity – and those gestures did nothing to prevent the deaths of Floyd, Arbery or Breonna Taylor, the EMT frontline responder in Louisville, Kentucky who was gunned down in her home when police rammed through the front door of her apartment.
Of course, it’s not only on NFL players and teams to change society – although Kaepernick and Players Coalition co-founders Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin, among others, have
demonstrated how the NFL platform, resolve and activism can have an impact – but they are surely positioned to make a difference through their exposure and resources.
If the Vikings (and their peers and the league, too) are going enter this space of social activism with the purpose of significant change, it’s going to take much more than dialogue and the optics of unity themes. It will take some serious action.
In time, we’ll find out whether the Vikings and others have the stomach to press on the challenges in confronting the systemic racism that has been embedded in American society for generations. And (to borrow from Jay-Z), it needs to go further than kneeling as the awareness has been raised.
Asked about strategies, Kendricks talked of the unequal criminal justice system (which has been a major focus of the Players Coalition) and expounded on interest for juveniles who get stuck in the system. Harris mentioned the desire of having white people better understand what it’s like for Blacks who lived in a society with double standards. Abdullah acknowledged police reforms needed, but quickly circled back to wanting “open discussions” and a desire for people to “reform ourselves internally.”
No doubt, there is much to unpack and well-intentioned efforts from the Vikings can help. Yet they shouldn’t lose sight of the impact that can be had on encouraging people to engage in the political process – Abdullah’s father, after all, marched for voting rights. They should also prioritize engaging as much with community organizations established and committed to equality as they are in meeting with institutional establishments. When it comes to reforming police culture, maybe they’ll devote energy to accountability issues that include dismantling legal cover for corrupt cops. For the focus on racial harmony, they should explore, too, the psychological effects on African-Americans seeing constant images of mistreatment seemingly broadcast or streamed on a loop.
Here’s to hoping, too, that they’ll continue to recognize in the spirit of unity, that talk of racial injustice and demands for accountability, equality and the eradication of systemic racism is not divisive.
Kendricks was encouraged by the message to players recently from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who intimated that the league should have better listened after the anthem protests began in 2016.
“Obviously, we play football,” Kendricks said. “We want to keep to football as much as possible, but these are issues that are facing the majority of players’ communities. So, for us to think we can’t speak up about it … it just didn’t feel right. Finally having Goodell say those things and having our back, I feel like we can all move forward now, take a deep breath and go after these issues that are plaguing our country. I truly believe that it’s going to bring out the best in all of us.”
That’s a plan – and a whale of a challenge.