RENTON — Richard Sherman stepped up to the podium Wednesday afternoon at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, and before fielding any questions from the gathered media he said he had something to say.
Sherman then proceeded into a realm where few professional athletes venture.
The Seattle Seahawks cornerback stepped off the playing field and into the world of social commentary Wednesday when he spoke candidly on the Black Lives Matters movement.
Sherman, in speaking about breaking down racial lines, took the type of stand rarely seen amongst today’s athletes as they attempt to avoid controversy and risk their marketing value. Sherman, who has his own share of endorsement deals, decided speaking up was more important.
“I think if we had more guys who spoke up on those kind of things I think we’d be in a better place as a society and as a culture,” Sherman said.
“I’m not saying anything that, in my opinion, is controversial, to say the least,” Sherman added. “I think it’s something I believe in. I think a person saying we should celebrate our humanity and all lives matter, if that turns off an advertiser or a company, more power to you.”
The outspoken Sherman was compelled to speak on the subject because a post recently appeared on the internet, attributed to Sherman, that criticized an activist who used a photo of Sherman and Seahawks teammate Marshawn Lynch to advocate violence against white people.
Sherman said he was not the author of the post that denounced the photo, but he also said that while the post was poorly written it did make some good points, mainly in condemning the violence advocated by the activist.
“I don’t think any time is a time to call for an all out war against the police or a race of people,” Sherman said.
“As a black man I do understand that black lives matter, I stand for that and believe in that wholeheartedly,” Sherman added. “But I also think there’s a way to go about things and a way to do things and I think the issue at hand needs to be addressed internally before we move on because from personal experience, living in the inner city, you deal with people dying. I dealt with a best friend getting killed, and it was two 35-year-old black men. There weren’t police officers involved, there wasn’t anybody else involved, and I didn’t hear anyone shouting ‘black lives matter’ then. I think that’s the point we need to get to, we need to deal with our internal issues. Before we move forward and start pointing fingers and attacking other people we need to solidify ourselves as a people and deal with our issues because as long as we have black-on-black crime — if black lives matter they should matter all the time.”
While Sherman called upon the African American community to do some soul searching, he also called upon law enforcement to make changes, too.
“There’s a lot of dealings with police officers right now,” Sherman said. “I don’t think all cops are bad. I think there’s some great cops out there who do everything in their power to uphold the badge and uphold the honor and protect the people in society. But there are bad cops and I also think that needs to be addressed. Some of that is being brought to light because of video cameras — everybody has a camera phone — but these are things a lot of us have dealt with our whole lives. I think right now is a perfect time to deal with it. The climate we’re in, everybody is being more accepting. So I think the ignorance should stop. I think people should realize that at the end of the day we’re all human beings. Before we’re black, white, Asian, Polynesian, Latino, we’re humans. So it’s up to us to stop it.”
Sherman’s stand brought admiration from his friend and teammate, receiver Doug Baldwin.
“A lot of times when athletes speak up about political issues or racial issues you get a lot of pushback, saying, ‘Oh you’re an athlete, stick to the field, stick to sports,’” Baldwin said. “Especially in Sherm’s case, we’ve all been affected one way or another by certain things that might be related to police officers, violence, all kinds of different things. It’s not like we don’t know what we’re talking about. That’s what I’m most proud about him, that he’s willing to put himself out there knowing there’s going to be some pushback, knowing there’s going to be some negativity surrounding it. But the fact of the matter is he brought it to light, he addressed it and he got the conversation started again.”
Sherman said the reason why he’s willing to speak out where other athletes might be reluctant is because he’s “not scared to be judged.” And he’s motivated by trying to reach the youth while he still had a platform from which to speak.
“[Athletes should be] trying to encourage these kids to stay out of the streets, stay out of gang violence, stay off these drugs, stay in school and do your best to come up with the next great idea, be the next entrepreneur, instead of some of the goals these kids have in the inner city,” Sherman said. “I know from personal experience, they don’t have the best influences, they don’t have the best idols, a lot of times they don’t have both parents in the household.
“I think it’s important to get that message out there to kids, especially while you have that platform,” Sherman added. “I’m just a football player, who am I to say anything? But as long as people are watching and respect my opinion, I’m going to give it.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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