Like many other athletes have done over the past few weeks, Cleveland Browns receiver Andrew Hawkins decided to wear a t-shirt protesting the recent deaths of unnarmed black men – in this case, Ohioans Tamir Rice and John Crawford III – at the hands of police.Hawkins and the Browns refused to apologize for the t-shirt when Cleveland police released a statement calling activist players “pathetic,” instead responding with this statement:
We have great respect for the Cleveland Police Department and the work that they do to protect and serve our city. We also respect our players’ rights to project their support and bring awareness to issues that are important to them if done so in a responsible manner.
Hawkins did not address the shirt with the media following Sunday’s blowout loss but, on Monday, he opened up about his decision to protest with some beautifully eloquent thoughts and spoke for nearly six minutes on the subject.
Shirts and other signs of protest have been spotted all across the sports world lately – it seems like there’s at least one new activist every day – but it’s pretty clear that Hawkins didn’t don his shirt to be trendy or fit in with the crowd. The wideout brought up his two-year old son as the main reason why he decided he needed to make a statement and stand up for what he believed was right, and he’s one of the few athletes who has followed up his strong visual protest with an equally strong (maybe stronger) voice on the matter. Good for him.
[Deadspin]
