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Jaguars’ Leonard Fournette Leads Protests at City Hall: “This Is Bigger Than Me, This Is Bigger Than Football”

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The second Jaguar associated march in the last five days took place Tuesday. 18 Jaguars players and coaches along with hundreds of others peacefully protested the death of George Floyd, police brutality, and ingrained racism here in the United States. 

The march was led by Jaguar's running back Leonard Fournette and crowds gathered to support him and the change they hope to see take place in the world. Leonard Fournette took the mic on the steps of City Hall saying, "this is bigger than him and bigger than football."

Kaitlin O'Toole is joined by Jaguar Report Maven Kassidy Hill who was at the march for insight on Fournette's speech and how things went at the protest.

Read the full transcript below:

Kaitlin O Tool: The second Jaguar associated march in the last five days took place Tuesday. 18 Jaguar players and coaches, along with hundreds of others, peacefully protested the death of George Floyd, police brutality, and ingrained racism here in the United States. Joining me now from JaguarReport is Kassidy Hill. Kassidy, you were at the march, Jaguars running back, Leonard Fournette took the mic on the steps of City Hall, saying "this is bigger than him, bigger than football." What more can you share on his speech and how things went at the march?

Leonard Fournette Thumb

Kassidy Hill: Yes, This was a really a Leonard Fournette led and organized march and protest. But as you said, as soon as he took the mic, he made sure to let those that had gathered know "this is not about me, this is not about football, this is bigger than all of us. This is about who we want to be as a country." He was actually able to give a really poignant example by pointing across the street to the park that they were standing in front of and say as early as this morning, there was a Confederate memorial there in that part and it's now been taken down. A lot of that actually had to do with his teammate, Chris Connelly, who called for that to be taken down during Friday's March. Then, as the march got started, there were close to a thousand people there. You saw them come up to Leonard Fournette as some of the other Jaguars players. Chris Connelly, the one who had that memorial taken down, was walking with Mayor Lenny Curry, who was there as well, and there were some that wanted pictures. They wanted autographs, and the players were happy to comply. Then they also just stopped and listened and said, "what do you want to share, what do you want to let us know?" Because they know that they have a voice, that they are someone that the city listens to. So if they can use that to the betterment of the city and those that live within it, they're going to do that. And that's really what today was mostly about.

Kaitlin O Tool: I love that. They're stopping for any views and pictures, but most of all, they're there for the change. And I'd love to see this change actually taking place in our country. Kassidy, thanks so much for your insight. I really appreciate it.