Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals has been one of the most vocal players in the NFL following the tragic death of George Floyd in police custody. The longtime wide receiver of the Cardinals would pen an emotional essay that was featured in the New York Times.
Following his powerful essay, Fitzgerald spoke to local reporters about talking with his son about the racial issues in today's society:
“He asked me a lot of questions. He's curious. I take the honest approach; I never try to sugarcoat or downplay anything. I just tell him exactly what I see, how I perceive it and I let him kind of digest it the way he wants to. I think the better he's equipped at a young age to be able to see things the way they are, but also to understand that things can be different and need to be different will help him in the conversations that he has with his friends.
In his message in the New York Times, Fitzgerald highlighted the importance of listening to those that need their voices to be heard. Therefore, the veteran pass-catcher wants his son to feel comfortable speaking out on issues he witnesses. Fitzgerald continued:
“I tell him, ‘If you hear somebody say something that you don't like, don't bite your tongue, tell him look that's unacceptable. If you're gonna speak like that we can't be cool. The more often you do that, somebody who may be lacking confidence in your group will do the same thing in one of his private conversations with a friend and that's how love and courtesy and respect is started. It's hold people accountable.’ And so I always challenged him to do that. Be a leader amongst your peers, be a leader in your community. Do right things, no matter if everybody's going one way and it's not the right thing.”
As a result of Floyd's unfortunate death, there were plenty of protests that took shape around the world. Fitzgerald, who is from Minneapolis — where Floyd died — felt proud when his son asked to participate in the protests:
“When we got back home [to Minneapolis], he was like, ‘Dad, I really want to go to the protest.’ I was really moved about that, so we went to downtown Minneapolis and participated. I was really proud of him and his views. It was great to see a young person, 12-years-old, who hasn't experienced anything like that. But being that socially aware, it gave me a lot of hope. As a father it makes it makes you proud to see that you raised them to be socially concerned and that really made me feel good.”
While everyone needs to educate themselves on the issues at hand, it's important to educate the next generation as well. It's safe to say Fitzgerald has done a remarkable job teaching his son how to be socially aware of the racial injustices happening in the world.
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