It seems like mainstream society wants to silence people who are outraged about certain injustices that are going on in society.
We hear people say don’t be violent, don’t loot and don’t burned down your communities, but then when someone or in this case NFL players do a very non-violent, peaceful and uplifting gesture they are told to shut it down.
If you can’t see how that would be frustrating to people, you have blinders on. Here is what Rams TE Jared Cook had to say.
St. Louis Rams tight end Jared Cook has no regrets about the “Hands up, don’t shoot” gesture that he and four teammates made during pregame introductions Sunday.
“‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ is not just a Ferguson thing,” Cook said. “It’s a worldwide thing. People are doing it in New York, people are doing it in Florida, people are doing it on the West Coast. It’s not just about Ferguson. It’s a message worldwide that for young adults that you can protest and you can do things peacefully without getting out of line.”
“We really didn’t think it was going to be as big as it’s being portrayed,” Cook said. “It’s something that we wanted to do for the people in Ferguson and around the world that are protesting peacefully and doing things in the community right to help bring Ferguson back and the communities around the world to help raise awareness and help build their communities up.
“It’s about building young men. Think about it; what real role models do we have nowadays? Young men are looking around for guidance and looking for people to look up to, and they have none. So why not be the voice and start here in the community when something so serious is going on 8 miles up the road?”
That paled in comparison to the response Cook and his teammates got on social media. Cook said he received threats of violence through various social media platforms, including Facebook, although he said it was difficult to decipher what’s real and what’s not through a computer.
Rams coach Jeff Fisher sat down with Cook and his teammates and discussed the matter Wednesday morning and, according to Cook, talked about the perception of it from some angry members of the Rams’ fan base.
Cook said he has been made aware of Rams fans threatening to stop supporting the team because of the gesture.
“I understand that,” Cook said. “They have to understand that we are ambassadors for them as well as other parts of St. Louis. As Rams and as the NFL, what we do is we represent everybody. We bring people together for a common goal.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
H/T ESPN