Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker and current analyst for Fox Sports 1, sat down with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during an interview for Acho’s show “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man,” which aired on social media Sunday night.
Goodell, who claimed he was “very comfortable” about race, said that when Colin Kaepernick and other players peacefully protested during the national anthem, he wished he knew “what was happening in the communities.”
‘When I had the chance to sit with our players, I never had the chance to sit with Kaep[ernick], but I’ve talked to Kenny Stills a lot. “Eric Reid, Malcolm Jenkins, Anquan Boldin … So many other players you know, some have offered a lot,” said Goodell.
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Acho told Goodell that the message he gave a few months ago was “valuable.”
“At least as a former player, as a black man in society, that message, it resonated with me, it spoke to me,” Acho told the NFL commissioner. ‘You said you listened, you heard, you learned. You have even apologized so much. “
But Acho mentioned that there was no specific message or apology to Kaepernick. So, he asked Goodell if he could express his remorse in public and apologize to Kaepernick, what is it that he would say?
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“Well, the first thing I would say is that I wish we had listened earlier,” Goodell replied. ‘Kaep, to what you knelt and what you tried to bring to attention. We had invited him several times to have the conversation, to have the dialogue. I wish we had the advantage. We never did it. You know, we would have benefited from that. Absolutely. “
And for people who think the peaceful protests were over the flag, Goodell said it was not.
‘It’s not about the flag. The message here that what our players are doing is mischaracterized. These are not people who are unpatriotic. They are not disloyal. They are not against our military. In fact, many of those boys were in the military, and they are a military family, “said Goodell. ‘What they’re trying to do is exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to be regulated. That wrong example of who they were and what they did was the thing that really gnawed at me. ”
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Goodell said that “it was terrible” to see the death of George Floyd, adding that “‘I hope people realize that is what the players are protesting.’
“That’s what happened in our communities,” Goodell added. ‘You see it on television now, but that’s been a long, long time coming. And that’s where we need to listen first. And we would have been there with her. Understanding and figuring out what we can do as the NFL. We can not solve all problems, Emmanuel. We can not. But we are big in our communities, we have a platform, we have an opportunity. And we use that effectively now. I wish we could have done it sooner. ”
