Alabama Football Players Planning March Against Racial Injustices on Monday
In light of the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin and other events in the country, University of Alabama football players are planning a march against racial injustice for this coming up Monday.
Posts on Instagram by Crimson Tide wide receiver John Metchie III and defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis have revealed that a protest will take place early next week.
We have already seen players from other programs in the SEC, like Kentucky and Mississippi State, boycott practice in response to the shooting of Blake. NBA players boycotted their playoff games over the last two days in efforts to see change.
Earlier this week, senior offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood, who penned the poem in the Black Lives Matter video the Alabama football Twitter account posted in the summer, shared his thoughts on why his feelings have not changed on the matter.
"My opinions have not changed at all," Leatherwood said. "The creative process to be honest was almost like — I don't know, it just like came to me out of nowhere. I am by no means a writer or anything like that because I'm very math-minded. Left-brained, you know what I mean? But I felt like that was just something that came to me and I felt like because I'm not really an outspoken person but I felt like those thoughts and those feelings that I had to for the situation needed to be heard so I used my platform to do so."
Leatherwood also noted that the team has discussed the recent events in Kenosha, Wi.
"Of course it's been discussed around the team and stuff like that," Leatherwood said. "But I mean, just like I said earlier, we feel the same way as we did a few months ago when we put out that video. Of course, we're not really angered but like we just don't feel good about that kind of stuff. We don't like to see it. It shouldn't be normal to be seeing that kind of stuff every few weeks, every month or so. It's not good. We don't like it."
On Friday evening, Crimson Tide senior running back Najee Harris tweeted out more specifics regarding the march:
According to Harris, the march of Alabama athletes and coaches will begin on the steps of the Mal Moore Athletics Facility and Will proceed to Foster Auditorium. The march will start at 4 p.m. CT on Monday.
