Throughout his life, Trey Flowers has always understood the importance of voting, even before he was old enough to vote. Growing up in Huntsville, Alabama, he was always explained to the Detroit Lions’ defense, both in practice and through examples from his family.
And it was often told through the premise of Selma’s march to Montgomery in March 1965, in which her grandfather and uncle participated.
“Just the stories of my father telling us and how much family, personally, he sacrificed himself to leave and go, and then my grandmother on my mother’s side, was pregnant at the time, but I was going to give them water, helping in that way,” Flowers said during a virtual town hall about Lions and RISE voting rights on Tuesday night. “Just, you know, just a shaky and scary moment, I guess.
“She passed by and was delivering the water and there was a white woman behind her who actually killed them. They were going around trying to stop the protests, and they actually killed that woman. Knowing that grandma and my grandparents were so close to being sacrificed and risk their lives to vote. “
“And I think only adults or adults who know the sacrifice that people here in the Deep South and around the world have put into practice for the right to vote, and that experience encouraged me to make sure I registered to vote.” The flowers explained.
Even after Flowers left Alabama to go to college in Arkansas and then play professionally with the New England Patriots and Lions, he said he made sure to cast absentee votes in order to vote and make use of the rights they protested for. your family members.
“That’s why it was so important to me,” Flowers said. “They taught me about growth and they taught me the importance of it, and I think just knowing how much, how far we go as a country, in general, to get the right to vote, make people have the right to vote, and how important it is That your voice to be heard “.
Flowers was one of the three Detroit players, along with quarterback Matthew Stafford and defender Duron Harmon, who spent part of an hour during a city council meeting on voting rights and explained why they believed voting was important and register to vote. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson also participated in the city council and explained how to register to vote.
Flowers, Harmon, and Stafford saw education and leadership as ways to emphasize the importance of voting.
“Everyone on this call can be leaders in their own community by simply shooting, sharing the story that Trey just told,” Stafford said. “That is going to inspire people. That is going to make people go out and go crazy to get out there and do the right thing, and that’s using your voice for change.”
“Just because you’re in a certain place in your life doesn’t mean you can’t guide people.”
Stafford pointed to the measure passed on the 2018 ballot that allows absentee ballots without a reason, as one-way leadership mattered even when the consequences were unclear, such as the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 when voting on absence became a necessity.
“That right decision became a 2020 need, many people need to stay safe and stay home, but they also need their voices heard,” Stafford said. “And that was leadership without seeing the end, doing the right thing at the time. And look at the opportunity that gives us all, all the people of Detroit, the state of Michigan, the ability to make changes from their couch.” . .
“And that’s kind of motivating, and those people were guiding us without even knowing it. So never think that your voice doesn’t count or that what you say to someone doesn’t matter, because running can make a difference in the long run.”
Stafford also talked about what they are trying to do at a community center he works with in Detroit, using sport as a “carrot” to make sure education comes first, as a way to help and an issue he is passionate about accentuating in community. . He explained at the center that his name is linked to Detroit, children cannot play sports until they finish their homework and have read for 30 minutes. It is one of many extracurricular facilities that do similar work in Detroit.
The growth of education and the recognition of an educational gap between some cities, including Detroit, and suburban areas is something that Stafford, Harmon and Flowers said they believe is the root of the problems in society.
“When we look at who we vote for, we have to see who prioritizes education, who is trying to close that gap so that brown and black kids and kids in downtown Detroit are getting that opportunity to go to college.” Harmon said. “To educate themselves and give themselves more opportunities so they can change the world and create less poverty and create fewer drug-infested communities so that we can create change.”
“Because that is where the change begins. It begins with the children. Put them in excellent positions and empower them so that they can break the cycles that have been there for generations and generations and allow them to empower themselves to empower their communities.”
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