Turner on Social Justice: ‘I’m Never Going to Give Up Hope’
GREEN BAY, Wis. – George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25 spurred calls for social justice that have continued for almost three months. Among the Green Bay Packers’ most vocal proponents for societal change has been offensive lineman Billy Turner.
Along with his status on the offensive line, Turner talked about social justice during a Zoom call with reporters after Tuesday’s practice.
Here is some of what he said, with more in the accompanying video.
Have you found your voice as an advocate for change?
“You know, I definitely say I’ve always stood for what I believe in. And everything that’s happened in the last six months in this country is tragic. It is. It’s been going on for a lot longer than six months. It’s more like 600 years. As far as my approach to the situation, you know, I take it as it comes. And as I grow older, as I experience more, as I communicate and have more conversations with different people, whether they’re like-minded or not, you tend to understand a little bit more and more and more. But then another situation like Breanna Taylor, George Floyd will happen and you’re just kind of left to sit there scratching your head, you know?
“As far as my voice goes, I understand that being in the NFL and having a platform means something, not only for me, because as far as I’m concerned it means much more for the people around the world and the people that follow me and tune in to listen to what I have to say. It’s not about me and having the platform and me being a professional athlete; it’s about what I’m able to do with this platform. It’s been something that I’ve grown into as a man and, every year that I get older, I understand a few more things and I approach things a little bit differently.
“Obviously, the end goal is to, honestly, eliminate all of these foul and tragic things that happen on a regular basis in this country. But with that being said, it’s been 600 years and it seems like we’ve made no strides forward. But, at the same time, I’m never going to give up hope and I’m going to continue to use my platform and my voice to make a difference in my community.”
It’s hard to remain positive and hopeful a lot of times watching the way that people are reacting to the conversations. How do you keep your optimism?
“Optimism with society, the world, everything that’s going on right now, you’re not wrong by saying that you find it hard to remain positive seeing everything that has continued to go on the last six months throughout the last four to five to six hundred years. It’s tough, you know what I mean? But to be completely honest with the comment that you made, optimism is something that’s hard and you finding it hard to be optimistic says one thing to me and that means that you have feelings and emotions that are geared toward everything that is happening.
“Being a black man, seeing people like me slain down in the street, is something that is tough. When you see it happen on a consistent basis, from the time when you’re born and brought into this world, all the way up until 29 years and is something that will possibly continue, optimism is something that is tough, yeah, but you kind of put it in the back of your mind because you become numb to the feeling. As unfortunate as that is, you’ve got to continue to move forward. The right thing to do is to try as hard as you can to remain positive because, personally, I believe the more positivity we have as a human race, it’s going to be easier to move forward and it’s going to give you a greater chance and ability to make change and to bring change to the world.
“Now, there’s always going to be evil things that happen and, unfortunately, I don’t believe that racism is ever going to be extinct. It’s not going anywhere but, as a man, all I can do is try to help the man next to me. It’s no different than playing football and being on the offensive line and working cohesively with those five guys on the offensive line. We as a human race have to work together to move forward and to be more positive, so that optimism that you speak of can become second-hand nature to us; and it’s not that negativity that we think about, it’s that more positive side of things that we want to see.
“And it’s tough because things like social media, the news, the newspaper, etc., the things that they pick and choose to exemplify and show, whether that is political or not, it’s not up to us what is put on media. So, the more things that you see and the more African-American men, women and children and minorities that you see getting slain down and the more negativity that the news and media shows, it’s going to be more present in your mind. So, that’s when you’ve got to work harder to remain positive and work harder with the people around you to keep that positivity very, very fluid in your mind.”
Can this deeper conversation help bring the team closer together since you can’t do the other fun things you did a year ago?
“You know, it’s tough, again, but this is adversity. This is not something that just the 2020 Green Bay Packers are dealing with. This is something that all 32 teams are dealing with. This is something that all people that walk this Earth and live in this world are dealing with. To say that it’s hard and it’s difficult, yeah, but it’s adversity.
“Everyone has to deal with it. Those who are able to be more creative with situations and opportunities like this and those who are able to use that creativity to promote a better understanding of the situation at hand and are able to think into the future. Doing this right now and us coming together as a team, whether it is a Zoom meeting or a creative way or getting on the phone or kicking it while we are here in the building, creating that camaraderie as quick as possible in unique ways is going to be something that’s going to help us on the field. It’s going to benefit us 100 percent.
