Detroit Lions Cancel Practice So Players Can Speak Out About Jacob Blake Shooting
The Detroit Lions cancelled practice on Tuesday (August 25) so they could speak out about the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Several players, including head coach Matt Patricia, met with the media outside of the team’s headquarters to make their thoughts heard on the tragic shooting while holding signs reading “The world can’t go on” and “We won’t be silent.”
Safety Duron Harmon said during the press conference that NFL players are more than just a name and a number.
"Some people think were just football players," he said. "This league, 67 percent of its players are African American. Jacob Blake could have been anybody’s brother, cousin, uncle, friend, could have been them. And it wasn’t okay. Football is not important today."
Lions quarterback Matt Stafford said football was an afterthought after the shooting. "Football was the last thing on our mind at the moment to be honest with you," he said. "We're all just trying to figure a way out to help or make a change and help out. The last thing we thought about was playing football."
Blake was shot by police on Sunday (Aug. 23) as he approached the driver’s side door of his vehicle that held his three children ages 8, 5, and 3 years old. He is currently in critical condition at a Milwaukee area hospital.
The Kenosha County Sheriff's Department and Wisconsin State Patrol are currently investigating the shooting. Family attorney Benjamin Crump said at a press conference that he is paralyzed from the waist down and it is not known if he will walk again.
The family has organized a GoFundMe account to support Blake, a father of six, with medical and legal expenses. Within a day of being posted, it had surpassed $1 million in donations.
