Vikings DE Ifeadi Odenigbo Protested With Strangers in Chicago Last Weekend
Vikings defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo wanted to join a protest in Chicago on Sunday, but he didn't know where they were happening, nor did he have anyone to go with. So he got in an Uber, told the driver his plan, and ended up getting out to walk around in search of marchers.
“By the grace of God, 5-10 minutes later, I saw a bunch of people marching and protesting,” Odenigbo told NBC Sports Chicago's Adam Hoge. “I walked their way and just joined the march. I marched for a good three-and-a-half hours for a good 12 or 13 miles.”
He didn't know any of the people he was protesting with, and they had no idea they were walking with a NFL player. But Odenigbo wanted to do more than just speaking out on social media against the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin last week. The former Northwestern star wanted to join the people and take action. So he marched.
“It was a pretty peaceful, quiet march. It was pretty cool to be part of that march,” Odenigbo said. “I didn't know anybody in that group. The people that came in, especially the people that are white, I said thank you. Like, you don't have to do this. You could take the easy route and be silent. But thank you for marching. It means a lot. Thank you for showing compassion and having empathy.”
Odenigbo has been back in Chicago this offseason, which is located just to the south of Northwestern's campus in Evanston. But as a black man who plays for the Vikings and spends a good portion of the year in Minneapolis, the death of Floyd hit home for him.
With the George Floyd death, this really hits home. Just the fact that I play for the Minnesota Vikings and I've probably driven on that street where he died – where he was tortured to death. Obviously a lot of the black community is hurting. When you see that footage and you see that eight minutes and 46 seconds of a man just saying, ‘Hey man, cop, you got it. I surrender. Can you please... I can't breathe, my stomach hurts.’ It really hits home because when you watch that footage – just as a black person, like, for all the people that are just kind of confused or bewildered of like what's going on or why people are acting this rash – every black person that watches that video, they think, that could have been me.
Odenigbo also said he supports his teammates Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr in their criticism of the NFL's weak statement regarding the incident and the ensuing protests.
I 100 percent support what they're doing. Because at the end of the day, we're a capitalist country and how you make the most money is by not offending anybody. It's kind of the easy way of going and taking a neutral stance. You're not pissing anybody off. You say a vague statement and you want to keep all that money in. But at the end of the day, from an NFL standpoint, a majority of the guys are black, you know what I mean? When you guys watch football, we understand it's uniforms, the team, all that stuff, but a lot of those guys are black. And from the standpoint of the NFL, we black players help you benefit and profit. And for you to really not acknowledge or really stand against (racism) is kind of a slap in the face to a lot of people.
I highly recommend checking out the entire Q&A between Hoge and Odenigbo, which you can find here. Odenigbo shared a lot of raw, personal feelings on his reaction to seeing the video of Floyd's death, what his experience has been like being black in the United States, and what people can do to educate themselves and help bring about change.
Odenigbo's football journey has been an unorthodox one, from convincing his Nigerian parents to let him join his high school team as a sophomore to recording seven sacks last season. He's in line to take Everson Griffen's old starting spot in 2020.
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