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HOUSTON – Houston Texans wide receiver Kenny Stills said he believes if the NFL had listened to Colin Kaepernick in 2016, lives “could have been saved.”
Stills was responding to a video posted on Sunday in which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he wished “we had listened to sooner” the issues Kaepernick was trying to draw attention to when he turned kneeling for the national anthem.
“He can say whatever he wants to say now, but in a way, if we had taken a tougher stand and he would have listened to us early on, there would have been so many lives that could have been saved.” Stills said. “There’s a lot of progress we could have made within our law enforcement, within our police, so it’s a nice gesture, I guess, to say he would have liked. do something different, but watch the NFL.
“We are supposed to be the leaders in our country, and I feel like we find a way to always be … We are reactive rather than proactive in the face of many issues in our country and within the J ‘ hope we can do a better job listening to our players, understanding our issues and doing something. “
In June, Goodell posted a video apologizing on behalf of the NFL for not listening better to players’ concerns about racial inequalities.
Since Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem during the 2016 season, Stills has expressed his support for the fight against police brutality and racial injustice. Stills also took a knee during the national anthem.
He was one of 87 protesters who were charged with a felony in July after they gathered at the home of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron in Louisville to demand justice for the death of Breonna Taylor. The felony charges were then dropped. In a video interview on Monday, he wore a shirt that read: “BREONNA TAYLOR KILLERS ARE STILL POLICE OFFICERS.”
Stills, who was speaking to the media for the first time since his arrest, said he and the other protesters were handcuffed and in the system for 17 hours and believed the police were “trying to send us a message” like as well as “keep us in prison longer”.
Stills has said he is considering retiring from the 2020 season due to what is “happening in our country right now.”
“I feel like the sport is really a distraction,” Stills said. “I feel like there are other things that are more important than playing football or playing sports at the moment. So a lot of things went into the decision to retire or play.
“I felt, after talking with people I was close to and some of my teammates, that I could be more beneficial for this team and this movement inside, trying to be a leader. I work with my teammates, working with the staff here, working with the league, and knowing who our audience is, trying to have as much impact and influence on them as possible. “
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