Malik Jackson Does Not Accept Drew Brees Apology
Drew Brees keeps apologizing for his comments about how he believes it is disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem and his multiple “I’m sorrys” are winning some people over, but others not so much.
Count Eagles defensive tackle Malik Jackson among those not ready to forgive.
Jackson was interviewed by 6ABC on Saturday and had some pretty strong words for the New Orleans Saints quarterback.
“I think he’s only apologizing because people are coming for him and people are disagreeing with him, and in Louisiana there’s a lot of black people,” said Jackson. “Whatever happens to him, it must be nice to make $25 million a year and have that stance.”
Brees got into this mess because he spoke to a reporter from Yahoo Finance and said:
The reporter, Daniel Roberts, asked Brees last Wednesday about former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick amid the George Floyd protests and Bree’s responsibility as a leader in times like this for the rest of his teammates and players in the league.
Brees’ response:
"Well, I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.
"Let me just tell you what I see or what I feel when the National Anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army, and one of the Marine Corps, both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place.
"So every time I stand with my hand over my heart, looking at that flag and singing the National Anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, it brings me to tears thinking about all that has been sacrificed, not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ’60s and everyone, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point.
“And is everything right with our country right now? No, it’s not, we still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity, it shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and then we are all part of the solution."
The backlash from players around the league, including many of his teammates was swift, prompting Brees into damage with apologies and even sending a tweet directly to President Donald Trump.
Jackson, for one, isn’t having any of it.
“Great player but very insensitive about the times and where he stands,” said Jackson on 6ABC. “I also did an interview on ESPN and I said something like you know my great granddaddy and dad fought in the war, too, and they were getting spit on at the same time, so I understand where you’re coming from but I said "F" you for your mindset because you’re still not understanding where we’re coming from after three years of trying to talk about this and get notoriety for this and you’re still talking about kneeling for a flag, a flag that oppressed people keeps beating people.”
No matter what Brees says going forward it doesn’t sound like Jackson will be swayed.
“I don’t understand how you can say that when you have people that are blocking for you that are black, you have people catching the ball for you that are black, you have people running the ball for you who are black. I understand silence is bad, too, but sometimes you might just want to be silent. I don’t accept his apology."
Jackson added that he is looking forward to the Eagles’ home game against the Saints on Dec. 13.
“I lost a lot of respect for Drew Brees,” he said. “I’m going to have a lot to say … hopefully, I don’t get too wild with it.”
Jackson went on to say that “there are racist players” in the NFL but didn’t want to name names.
“I’ve seen them,” said Jackson. “I’ve heard them, I’ve talked to them. You can be in the heat of battle and someone just calls you a “N” word or you can just see people doing things. It’s one of those things, it’s not hard to see. It’s one of those things, people come from different walks of life. You come here, there should be no racism in the NFL, there shouldn’t be, but that doesn’t mean that there (isn’t).”
