Detroit Lions: 'Football Is Not Important Today'
The Detroit Lions collectively decided to cancel padded practice Tuesday.
On Sunday, an unarmed, 29-year-old African American man named Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wis., as he was reportedly trying to get into his car -- where his three children were waiting for him in the back seat.
According to The New York Times, Blake "had been trying to break up an argument when police arrived."
Blake is now paralyzed from the waist down, and has “eight holes” in his body, according to the victim's father.
The shooting was captured on video, and quickly spread online.
Protests and social unrest have ensued in Wisconsin.
“Football is not important today," safety Duron Harmon said Tuesday, as the unified team addressed local media outside of the Lions' practice facility in Allen Park.
“We’ve been able to have some real conversations as a team. Just to hear the pain, the fear that the people I love are going through, it’s not okay," offensive lineman Taylor Decker said.
Much like the senseless killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, by four Minneapolis police officers, the Blake shooting has transcended nearly every sector of U.S. society, including the sports world.
It's led to athletes from all across the sports world, including star NBA player LeBron James, to chime in on the police brutality that far too many African Americans are subject to.
"I know people get tired of hearing me say it, but we are scared as Black people in America," James told reporters after his Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers in a first-round playoff game Monday night.
He continued, "Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrified. Because you don't know, you have no idea. You have no idea how that cop that day left the house. You don't know if he woke up on the good side of the bed. You don't know if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed."
The conversation isn't stopping anytime soon, and the Lions are going to make sure they're an active part of it.
“I want you all to document (that) the Detroit Lions will not be silent," Harmon said.
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