Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson said he and his teammates joined athletes from all sports as they sat in the games this week to protest the police shooting at Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.
NBA, WNBA, MLB and MLS players forced the postponement of several games by opting not to play in protest against police brutality and racial injustice. In an appearance Friday at ESPN 710 Seattle, Wilson was asked if the Seahawks would have done the same if it had happened in the NFL season. Answered:
“Yes, of course. Witnessing what happened to Jacob and all the things that were added to him is devastating, it’s actually devastating just by looking at him. It’s not how it’s been going on for years, it’s component fear and unhappy component. The difference now is that we can see it every day because of social media, phones and everything else. The world actually sees the ugliness of societyArray and what is really disappointing is simply knowing that athletes make a difference to make a difference, and other people don’t need to pay attention and don’t need to recognize that it may have been just us, we can just be us. It’s a reality. We, as a team, the Seahawks, are definitely discussing what we will do next, how can we make a change, how can we generate a motion and how can we make a difference? We’re in the middle of that right now.
“We don’t have weeks, we don’t have months, we don’t have years to replace it, we have to do it all together, and we have to do it now. We want to replace now. We want other people to make a difference now, and we also call other people like you along the way.”
Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot seven times in the back through Officer Rusten Sheskey as he tried to return to his car after allegedly helping to calm a dispute between two women. He’s expected to survive, lately he’s paralyzed from the waist down. It is not known if the condition is permanent.
This article will be updated to provide more information about this story as it becomes available.
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