SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks canceled practice on Saturday to support Black Lives Matter.
The team had a long meeting, which ended with an agreement the team would not practice.
Team members have been vocal about racial injustice this week following the shooting of a black man in Wisconsin. Jacob Blake, 29, was shot 7 times in the back by a Kenosha police officer last week. For example, quarterback Russell Wilson said on ESPN radio if the team had a game this week, they wouldn't have played it.
On Saturday, head coach Pete Carroll held a press conference, initially scheduled for players to speak at, and delivered a nearly 15-minute long speech on racial injustice in America.
"Racism is going out the door," Carroll said. "It's got to be gone. It's got to be out the frickin' door and get rid of it. It's got to go and we have to figure out how to get that done."
He said players have been very outspoken about how they're feeling.
"They've taken this opportunity to teach us more of what the life of a black man is like in America, both black men, and women," Carroll said."This has been truth-telling and reality checks. They just want to be respected. They just want to be accepted just like all of our white children and families. It's not different because we're all the same."
Carroll said people need to be more understanding of the struggles black people endure.
"White people don't know, they don't know enough," the head coach said. "They need to be coached up and they need to be educated about what's going on in this world. Black people can't scream anymore, they can't march anymore. They can't bear their souls anymore to what they've lived with for hundreds of years."
Carroll urged all coaches at all levels and all sports to make a difference in their communities.
"Lead in your communities," he said. "We're all over the place in all the different sports. Hear me, let's go, let's get this done. No more being quiet, no more being afraid to talk about the topics, no more being a little uncomfortable that you might lose your job. Screw it, we can't do that anymore."
Carroll left the podium without taking any questions from the media and said nothing about football. The team is scheduled to play a scrimmage tomorrow. That's still planned to take place,
