As NFL players contemplate a course of action on how to create tangible change for social justice issues, Texans veteran safety Michael Thomas is advocating for a proactive approach.
That involves possibly or possibly not walking out of games, as NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball and NHL players did in the wake of Jacob Blake, a Black man, being shot seven times by Wisconsin police at point-blank range in front of his three children.
One of the most active NFL players in the Black Lives Matters movement who has knelt during the national anthem to raise awareness about police brutality and systemic racism, Thomas said Saturday that the support of NFL owners like the Texans' Cal McNair and the Kansas City Chiefs' Clark Hunt will be pivotal in informing how the players proceed.
“As of right now, we’re all in the situation where we’re like, hey, how can we use our voice and our platform to have the greatest impact?" Thomas said during a Zoom video call Saturday. "That first Thursday night game is going to be huge. If we can work with the Chiefs and the McNair family and the Hunt family to help us try to reach those who have the power to make changes and pass these laws, then maybe we do that. To say that the players aren’t thinking about, Hey, is the best thing to do to play or not play? Those are definitely discussions that are happening. We have time.
"Even though we might be thinking those same things, do we play? Do we not play? Because these things matter to us as well. Do we also have time to put some other things in place where we can probably fight for those same things, too, and we see if the McNair family or the Hunt family, before this Thursday night game, work with us and try to get some things changed when it comes to legislation. Then, maybe it’s, hey, we don’t have to take that same route of leaving and not playing in the game. I think that’s something we’re looking at.”
Among the initiatives Thomas supports is the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill addressing policing practices and law enforcement accountability. That includes measures to increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct, enhanced transparency and data collection and elimination of discriminator policing practices.
The bill facilitates federal enforcement of constitutional violations, including excessive force by state and local law enforcement authorities and lowering criminal intent standard, limiting qualified immunity as a defense to liability for officers in a private civil actions and authorizes the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas in investigations of police departments with a pattern or practice of discrimination and the establishment of a National Police Misconduct registry.
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Thomas applauded the NBA and WNBA players for not playing games to shine a light on the situation in Wisconsin and other incidents, including the killings of Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
"I applaud them, I respect them," Thomas said. "I've got to give a lot of credit to the WNBA players. Those women have been doing an amazing job, and they've been doing it for a long time. It can't go unnoticed. Huge shoutout to all the women in the WNBA."
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Texans' Michael Thomas: 'How can we use our voice and platform to have the greatest impact?' - Houston Chronicle
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