INDIANAPOLIS — A day after cancelling practice, the Indianapolis Colts gathered on the field after practice Friday morning to make a public statement to explain their stand for social justice. The entire team, as well as coaches and staff, stood with team leaders who spoke briefly.
"We understand that our job awards us with a platform to pour into our resources, our relationships, to not only make change on a surface level, but to use the relationship and the communication that we have with others, that can help deep rooted change,” said Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who spoke first during the public statement.
As players boycotted games in several professional sports the past couple of days, a team leadership committee of nine Colts players met with head coach Frank Reich to share their concerns about continuing systemic racism in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Reich said he just listened as the players made it clear they would not be practicing Thursday. The players say they spent the time off from practice making plans for ways to address racism and make change for social justice during the 2020 season.
"We're hurt because we feel the pain of not only our Black teammates, but our Black community,” said Brissett. “We understand that we have to use our platform, not only individually, but collectively as an organization. We want it to be known that yesterday wasn't a day off. It wasn't a day for us to just go home and say we didn't practice."
Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin outlined areas where the Colts will focus their social justice efforts:
- Voting: getting people registered and to voting centers
- Facilitating community-police engagement and improving relations
- Food drives to support people in low-income areas
- Supporting Indianapolis Public Schools.
"It's extremely frustrating to think about where our country was, and still is,” said Franklin. “It's tough. We need wide scale change."
Colts center Ryan Kelly's father was a cop for 30 years. Kelly had to pause to emotionally collect himself during an interview session while thinking about officers killed in the line of duty.
"It's hard for me to see that happen,” said Kelly. “I know that there's good cops out there and that's the thing that hurts me. Then you see bad apples out there as well that tarnish the name of other people. I hate to see pain on either side. I'm happy that there's tough conversations that we have."
"I can't tell you enough how proud I am of these young men,” said Colts general manager Chris Ballard. “They understand that it's got to be more than words and it's about action. It's about making a real difference in our communities."