Demario Davis hopeful on police issues, protests: 'We have swept it under the rug so many times'
Demario Davis has used his platform in the NFL to advocate and push for social justice reform, the New Orleans Saints star having rolled up his sleeves to lobby for issues such as sentencing reform. An All-Pro linebacker last year, Davis, who spent five of his first six seasons in the NFL with the Jets, is now pushing for reforming law enforcement and institutions that have led to the last week of protesting across the country.
The socially-conscious Davis was moved to action on this issue after the recent death of George Floyd, whose death in Minneapolis was caught on film. An African-American, Floyd was in police custody and handcuffed, lying on the ground when he told the arresting police officer that he couldn’t breathe.
The officer, whose knee was on the neck of Floyd, did not respond to the cries for help. Floyd died at the hospital shortly thereafter when attempts to resuscitate him failed. The death of Floyd has led to outrage across the country, ranging from tens of thousands peacefully and powerfully protesting Floyd’s death to moments of violence and rioting.
In this movement, the NFL star has found hope. Davis said that his belief in God is grounded in the idea that “He told us not to be afraid.” But he also balances that with a conviction of the need for “change in the way we as a nation are policing.”
“It is a tragedy what happened to George Floyd and my heart goes out to his family and Ahmaud Aubrey. It’s a lineage, you have Aubrey, you have Michael Brown…you have so many. They are a few of many, many who have died at the hands of people who were supposed to protect them. It’s unfortunate. That’s where we are – the unrest that continues to happen in country,” Davis told SportsIllustrated.com.
“I feel like we have swept it under the rug so many times and just trying to, you know, the little fires as they have come up but we never have really addressed the situation. I’m confident and helpful that now we are there. But now we have voices from so many different communities after years of ignoring black people being treated unfairly and now we have to fix it. Now is the first time we’ve had so many people from so many different backgrounds, so many different countries and ethnicities standing arm-in-arm with black people and saying we need to change. For that, I’m hopeful.”
Set to enter his ninth year in the NFL, Davis has earned a place of respect not just on the field as one of the game’s top linebackers or in the Saints locker room as a strong voice of character but he is regarded throughout the league as a champion for social justice and equality. He advocates now for a top-to-bottom overhaul of how the police and law enforcement is established.
In many ways, Davis says, the system is set-up to specifically target and keep down minority groups and people of color. It is something he touched upon extensively in his book The Unsuccessful Champion: Finding True Victory in the Midst of Adversity.
“Police officers, the way they respond to the community, should be different, forever,” Davis said.
“We need to find and change rapidly all forms of systematic oppression that have existed for hundreds of years. Anything that has the smell of racism needs to be removed. We need to systematically work to change the change conditions of the black community. And the condition is due to hundreds of years to oppress and re-oppress black people. You think about the psychological warfare of watching black people be killed over and over and over again – what does that do to your condition psychologically? We are going to have to restore the condition of blacks economically, politically, emotionally and mentally from not removing those institutions of racism.”
Davis is donating proceeds from his 'Man of God' mask sales to families of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery:
