The NFL is making a big move in order to help in the fight against systemic racism. On Thursday, the league announced it will donate $250 million over 10 years in the fight against racial and social injustice that is currently going on in the country. This comes on the heels of league commissioner Roger Goodell showing his support for the players who are supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Judy Battista of NFL.com, the NFL is willing to work with Colin Kaepernick on social justice initiatives.
“We listened to our players. We needed to listen more, we needed to move faster,” one source said to Battista. “We heard them and launched a social justice platform because of what Colin was protesting about. The players have always been an essential piece of this effort and this campaign. It would be awesome to engage Colin on some of the work we are doing.” The person also said Kaepernick is “going real impactful work,” and adding him to mix would be “amazing for us.”
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Last week, a group of players including Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley and Odell Beckham Jr. were featured in the video that asked the league to joined them in the movement. In the video, the players requested the league to say: “We, the National Football League, condemn racism, and the systematic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League, admit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting. We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter.” When Goodell saw the video, he admitted the league made a mistake.
“We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People,” Goodell said. “We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter.” Goodell didn’t mention Kaepernick by name in the video, and players have spoken out about him not being in the league. Kaepernick was a member of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-2016 but has not been in the league since the 2016 season after protesting during the national anthem that year due to police brutality and racial and social injustice. The league has stated Kaepernick can sign with any team since he’s a free agent.
