YOU’RE NOT SAFE HERE
Grandad’s USA fears for Newcastle star Yedlin
NEWCASTLE star DeAndre Yedlin’s family have told him they would “fear for his life as a young black man” if he still lived in the USA. And former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha, who plays for Utah’s Real Salt Lake, has admitted he does not feel “100 per cent safe” in America. Yedlin, 26, and his Magpies teammates took to one knee in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement yesterday in a powerful gesture before training.
The Seattle-born right-back revealed the emotional text message he received from his grandfather Ira, in the wake of race riots in the
States. They are relieved he no longer lives in his home nation.
Civil unrest has gripped US cities after the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
Yedlin, capped 62 times by the USA, moved to England six years ago. In a powerful tweet he said: “A couple days after George Floyd’s death, my grandfather texted me and told me he’s glad I am not living in the US because he would fear for my life as a young black man.
“As days have passed, this text from my grandfather has not been able to leave my mind. He was born in 1946, lived through the civil rights movement, lived through some terribly racist times in US history, and now 70 years later he still fears for the life of his black grandchild, in the country he and his grandchild were born in, in the country his grandchild represents when he plays for the United States, in the country his grandchild represents when he’s playing in England.”
Onuoha, 33, above, said: “I’m always very wary of how I behave and how it could be viewed by people who have power. I don’t like to say it but I’ve a fear and distrust towards police. I’ve loved living in this country but there is [another] side of it.
“Over here because of their rights it’s more common altercations become deadly. When it comes to any kind of brutality, if it’s from the police, if they read me the wrong way then, my life could be taken.”