Steelers' Maurkice Pouncey Tells Teammates Protest Will be in Unity
As the NFL and NFLPA are trying to figure out every detail to trying to play in 2020, the players are dealing with a national movement pushing for equality and change in America.
Steelers' tackle Zach Banner has spent his weekend preaching for this change to bring light to the Jewish community. Following DeSean Jackson's anti-semitic Instagram posts, Banner has posted three videos sharing stories and messages about equality in all forms.
Maurkice Pouncey had his time in the spotlight to discuss the same issues when he appeared on an Instagram interview with Stan Routt.
Routt and Pouncey discussed multiple topics such as advice to younger players, making it in the league with his twin brother Mike, and releasing his own company CellsRX.
Then, Pouncey and Routt turned the focus on the movement in America and how it can be impacted in the NFL. Routt proposed the theory of what changes the league would see with a black team owner, which led to the conversation of how Pouncey feels towards protesting during the regular season.
"They say it takes five to fifteen years for change to happen. For true change," Pouncey said. "So for anyone to think we're going to see that right away, immediately, is wrong. This is going to take a very long time to do."
Pouncey said he spoke with fellow Steelers about their intentions for the season.
"I told the teammates this time like, 'If we're going to do this, we're gonna stand, any type of movement that we gotta do we gotta unite together,'" Pouncey said. "It can't just be half the guys want to do this, and four other guys do this. It can't be like that. Anything that we go out here and do we got to make sure that we do it together."
He also said he told them their plans couldn't end on the field. If they're going to stand by the movement for change, it's going to be more than kneeling on Sundays.
"One thing we can't do is going back to sports and being like 'yo we're just playing sports again, we're gonna forget about all this stuff,'" Pouncey said. "And I told my teammates, I say, 'If we're gonna start making movements, whenever the season comes don't you guys back out when we got to go on a Wednesday or a Tuesday, and we have to go sit in a courtroom or sit around police officers and have conversations with them.'
"We did this thing last time when the whole social injustice thing came up. Whenever it came time to do the whole meeting with the officers, like six of us did. When it came time to like pay and do all the other things, I was the only one there."
Noah Strackbein is a Senior Writer with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
