“How Come You Didn’t Try to Understand Us?” – Former Denver Broncos Player Brandon Marshall on the NFL’s Response to Protests Against Racism

In the wake of the George Floyd incident, several NFL players have spoken up about the prevalence of racism in today’s world. Former Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall is the latest person to voice his opinion on the matter.

Back in 2016, Colin Kaepernick drew a lot of flak for kneeling during the national anthem. As a result, he practically became a pariah, and no team wanted to sign him. Now, Marshall hopes that his and Kaepernick’s message about social injustice will finally be heard.

That year, Brandon Marshall and Colin Kaepernick kneeled to protest against police brutality and social injustice. Now, the vindicated duo told reporters that hopefully their message will be better received. Especially now, in the wake of the police-involved death of Floyd.

“Back then, we were called rogues, people said that we didn’t deserve jobs, but this is what we were talking about then,” Marshall told ESPN. “I think people are looking at [Kaepernick] now like, ‘OK, maybe he knew.’ People didn’t want to hear the message after, ‘Oh, they were kneeling.’ They didn’t want that message, weren’t ready for it, didn’t listen. I hope, and I look at it, I hope people are ready for the message, I really hope they’re ready for change.”

Brandon Marshall spoke to Kaepernick on the Floyd incident

Marshall confirmed that he spoke to Kaepernick about the video of Floyd in police custody. The video itself was fairly disturbing because the officer had his knee on Floyd’s neck, practically choking him.

“We talked some about what’s happened. This is why he started the Know Your Rights foundation. I asked him if he needed me to do anything or what I could do to help,” he said. “He said right now, at the moment, he’s concentrating on legal assistance for the protesters, but we’ll talk more moving forward.”