Former New York Jets safety Burgess Owens, now running for Congress: 'We don't have a black problem. We don't have a white problem. We have an empathy problem.'
Former NFL star Burgess Owens came to the crux of the social unrest on Thursday as the nation continues to watch and protest following the passing of George Floyd, who died while in police custody. Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets over the issue of police brutality with Owens offering some perspective from both sides.
Last week, video of Floyd surfaced, showing the African-American male handcuffed by the police, on the ground and with a law enforcement officer’s knee on his neck. Floyd yelled several times for help, saying he could not breathe. He would die in a nearby Minneapolis hospital after attempts were unsuccessfully made to resuscitate him. His death has sparked a movement that is protesting against the disproportionate number of deaths by African-Americans by police when compared to their percentage of the general population of this country.
Owens, a former NFL star who is running for Congress as a Republican in Utah, is also an African-American. He took to social media on Thursday to present the need for understanding and respect on both sides of the issue.
He made a shorter post via his Twitter account as well as a considerably longer message on Facebook.
“We don't have a black problem. We don't have a white problem. We have an empathy problem. That officer did not see George Floyd as a person, he didn't care who he was inside. It never crossed his mind to think of what it's like to be in his shoes,” Burgess wrote on Facebook.
“We have officers being killed across our country, spit on [and] shouted at by groups that don't see them as people. They don't wonder if they're good or bad, or what their heart is like.
“We don't need more acts of Congress, we need more acts of kindness. We need to start seeing people from the inside out, and not the outside in. We must have compassion, not just for those close to us, but for the strangers on the street.”
Owens spent the first seven years of his 10 seasons in the NFL with the New York Jets, who selected him in the first round of the 1973 NFL Draft. He made a Pro Bowl as a member of the Oakland Raiders in 1981.
In recent years, he has been an advocate for conservative values and minority entrepreneurship. On Wednesday, Owens was retweeted by President Donald Trump following a tweet where the former NFL player praised the president’s four years in office.
Owens is running for a seat in the House of Representatives in Utah’s fourth congressional district.
