Larry Fitzgerald has seen enough.
The Arizona Cardinals receiver has seen the video of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and disgusted by the images emerging from his hometown. So, he penned a persuasive essay published Sunday by The New York Times addressing police brutality and racial injustice.
And while he says he did not personally experience any harassment from the police while living in Minneapolis, he did notice people of color weren’t given the same respect as white people.
“For as long as I have known it, Minneapolis has been a city of peace, family and contentment. But not right now,” Fitzgerald wrote. “The events of the last several days have turned Minneapolis, and our nation, upside down. Injustice, death, destruction, pain, violence, protests and riots have made it clear — we as a nation are not OK.
“We are not healthy. The violent death of George Floyd in police custody is yet another example of a systemic problem we have yet to solve. A cancer we are failing to cut out. People and communities are suffering, lives are being lost and futures are being destroyed.”
The first step, Fitzgerald writes, “must be to listen to one another.” And that’s something he believes is missing from the discussion.
“We are not listening to one another,” he wrote. “Our winter of delay continues to result in cold hearts and lifeless bodies. The language of the unheard has broken the silence and out willful deafness has led to death and destruction. While our nation has struggled in the weight of a biological pandemic we also find our communities ravaged by the insidious disease of injustice.
“People of color across this nation are screaming to be heard. Stop killing our sons and daughters. Stop terrorizing our communities. Give us justice. When those screams fall on deaf ears the pain of being unheard bears down on your soul.”
Well said.
