The Detroit Lions became the one of the first professional sports teams this year to take a collective stand against police brutality by canceling practice Tuesday.
Practice was moved back twice before the cancellation where players instead addressed the media about their frustration with incidents involving Black people.
The act that caused the walkout was the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot eight times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday. He remains hospitalized.
The players and head coach Matt Patricia assembled near the front entrance of the team headquarters, to speak out.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford said there has never been a day he was more proud to be a Lion and a quarterback in the NFL than Tuesday.
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“We had our team meeting this morning and no football was talked about,” Stafford said Tuesday. “Coach just opened the floor. The conversations lasted four hours and it was incredible to be a part of it.”
Patricia said there were some “amazing, amazing conversations” in the team meeting. He didn’t really know where the conversation was going to go, but that “thankfully our players helped lead that.”
Blake is reportedly paralyzed after the shooting. Police have yet to explain what led to the shooting, which have sparked protests across the country and several high-profile celebrities and athletes to speak out against racial injustice.
Flowers said that while they play football, they will try to “change the world with our platform.”
“We are all brothers, the human race,” Flowers said. “We are all one, and once we realize that and overcome just the difference of skin color, the difference of culture, then we’ll start to love one another, treat others as they are us.”
Flowers also said he knows people will try to make what the Lions are doing this season political and change the narrative. But he said the players are determined to make change happen.
“Hearing the pain in the voices of guys that I care about, guys that I love, guys that are great men, great husbands, great fathers, they shouldn’t have to go through that,” offensive lineman Taylor Decker said. “And I want them to know that I’m here for them.”