Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Jones is among the best running backs in the league today. He has 2,260 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns in just three seasons. He has shown great promise so far and could even be on the Packers’ long-term options alongside his namesake, Aaron Rodgers. While his success in the NFL is largely attributable to none but him, Jones believes that there is one other person without whose lessons he wouldn’t have made it to where he is today. That special person is his father, Alvin Jones Sr.

Aaron Jones writes about fatherhood and other things

In a rather touching piece that he authored for the Players’ Tribune, Jones wrote about how having a baby has changed his life and allowed him to reflect upon things his father told him through his childhood. Before we go any further, Aaron Jones and Crystal Molina’s son (who was named after the RB), is almost two months old now! According to Jones, the baby is healthy and doing great.

Jones believes that this period of self-quarantine has come as a blessing in disguise, as it has given him a lot of time to spend with his family. Otherwise, Jones would have to leave for the off-season practice in Green Bay. But now, the couple is staying in El Paso, which is also the RB’s hometown. Jones’ parents have taken this opportunity to spend time with their grandson as well.

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While this has been a particularly happy time for the Jones family, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month had a profound impact on them. The running back writes that the unfortunate incident changed his perspective on life completely. He doesn’t just have to worry about himself anymore. He has a son to worry about too. An African-American son, who Jones doesn’t “want to grow up in an America that’s the way it is today, where the world’s not on his side.”

He already feels the need to have important conversations with his son, like the ones his father had with him when he was younger. “My dad told me then (and many times after) that life isn’t fair, and that an African-American man has to work a little bit harder — and be a little bit nicer — in order to be treated like he should be treated all the time, like a normal human being.”

“It a cycle that has to stop.”

Aaron believes that it truly is time for a change. “In America, it’s like you’re born at a disadvantage if you’re black. And that’s sad,” he writes.

Jones further writes that he was lucky to have not experienced a lot of racism growing up. Of course, he was exposed to it a few times while playing football, but he “let it go in one ear and out the other... I’m not going to let somebody get me off my game by using words.”

His father always told him, “when they’re just words, to be the bigger man.” Alvin Jones Sr. has been a great inspiration for his twins, who are both professional footballers now. He pushed them to be better athletes and humans. Jones writes, “He taught me everything… He taught me to believe in myself. He showed me how a man’s supposed to be a man.”

Conversations with the Green Bay Packers

Jones writes that virtual meetings with his team have allowed them to have real and important conversations. Just like they did in his rookie year. “We knew that the kneeling protest was never about the flag. We knew it was about inequality,” he writes.

Aaron further writes that while the Green Bay Packers have been talking about everything that has been going in the country, they haven’t yet decided how to respond to it when NFL resumes. The coaches have, however, decided to support the team in whatever it wishes to do.

“I appreciate them being open, because fixing this problem has to start in everybody’s heart. You have to look past color… Just because my skin color is different from yours doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be able to do the same things that you do. It doesn’t mean that my son shouldn’t feel safe when he leaves the house.”

Having become a father himself now, Jones sees why his dad was having those conversations with him. “I see why he had a fear like that could be me one day, and he might get old without a son, or my son could grow up without a father.“