Getty Trey Flowers forces a fumble in a 2019 game.
The Detroit Lions staged a protest, but what’s next in the conversation about race in America and where can the team move the conversation in the months ahead?
That’s a tough question, but Lions’ defensive end Trey Flowers has a good answer. Flowers joined NFL Network and host Andrew Siciliano following an unprecedented day in Allen Park, and said the next steps involve more education as well as activism on several fronts from the public. The best part? Folks don’t have to be professional athletes with a huge platform to get involved and make a change.
My conversation today with @III_Flowers after the @Lions called off practice.
@nflnetwork
Flowers explained his ideal next steps:
“Just continue to educate. Educate the people who don’t know around the world to shine light to these type of incidents. Another step is going to the government. Having conversations with council, congress, people that put police officers in place to protect cities. Obviously vote, we’ve got a big election year coming up. That’s another thing us as citizens should want to do. Whatever you choose to do, whether it’s vote, sit down and have a conversation with a neighbor, have a conversation with council, government. All of that is just as important as voting. It’s all important as a movement.”
Obviously, more of those conversations are needed in the weeks, months and years ahead as events like the one which nearly claimed the life of Jacob Blake have become all too common in America.
Trey Flowers Has Powerful Message on Race
Flowers, in a lengthy Instagram video a few months ago, provided his thoughts on the state of things in America right now. Initially, he admits he had kept quiet. As he says, however, it’s time for everyone to listen and try to understand viewpoints that they might not have experiences with. In his mind, that’s the only way any type of positive change is going to happen.
In nearly a 10 minute emotional video, Flowers opens up and bears his soul regarding his feelings. It is important to watch all the way through.
Chris Burke of The Athletic also transcribed most of the video and posted it on Twitter.
Trey Flowers posted an emotional video to Instagram today, with the caption: “Listen!! It’s not wrong to not know, it’s wrong not to want to know…”
I transcribed as much of it as I could fit here (please forgive any typos).
It’s worth watching.
t.co/dEUEzI3Msm
Obviously, in a few months full of powerful statements, this might be the one that stands out for the Lions. Flowers makes a significant point regarding the discussion being like a circle where the message often gets lost or distorted. As humans, it’s on everyone to make sure the discussion keeps going in meaningful ways so that solutions are reached for the future. Flowers using his platform to do just that is significant.
Hearing Flowers speak, it’s not a surprise he is one of the team leaders the Lions chose to pursue heavily in free agency a few years back. The Detroit locker room is in good hands with his leadership.
Lions Cancelled Practice Tuesday
Tuesday morning, the Lions were going to practice as usual, but things ended up being delayed. In the end, it was not business as usual. The team ended up canceling practice as a result of the Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin after a passionate team meeting on the subject.
The #Lions have canceled practice today in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., I’m told. It was the players’ idea following deep conversations this morning. The entire team plans to address the media shortly.
Here’s the video of the team coming out together to speak, and revealing the message of “We can’t go on” and “We won’t be silent.” The sentiments were scrawled on a couple of dry erase boards that were wheeled out.
The entire Lions team has a message. The shooting of Jacob Blake prompted the team to spent time talking about that. “We as a football team decided that Football is not important today.” #OnePride
During the event, several players spoke including Duron Harmon, Trey Flowers and Taylor Decker. The consensus? The Lions want to win football games, but they also want to contribute to changing the world for the better.
https://twitter.com/mikerothstein/status/1298312287896338435
Speaking passionately, Duron Harmon, Trey Flowers and Taylor Decker shared their vision and explained it’s on teams to have a unified approach and the Lions want to be the team moving the conversation forward in order to help make change in America.
Blake was shot multiple times by the police after an incident in Wisconsin over the weekend, and as of now it has been revealed by his father that he is paralyzed from the waist down currently. This incident will be the one the Lions try to galvanize around in order to send the message that the world must change.
As Flowers says, the hope is that folks choose to get involved in the best way they see fit to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t keep happening.
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