Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Dontari Poe doesn't mind being the stray of the group, especially when it comes to strides for social justice.
Poe has made sure through the first three games of the season to make his actions known and felt. Though he's the only player for the Cowboys to kneel during the national anthem, he recently received support from team owner Jerry Jones along with teammates.
Jones had recently given skeptical statements in terms of players protesting on anthems but had recently made the option solely up to players in how they chose to make their voices heard.
Poe touched on how he felt it was necessary to continue proceeding with his protesting efforts, a piece of him that'd been a continuant since he played with the Carolina Panthers.
“I had to talk with Jerry [Jones], had to talk with teammates, coaches to make sure this didn’t take away from our ultimate goal,” Poe said Wednesday, via Jori Epstein of USA TODAY Sports. “And I just told them: I want to do this. If they had a problem with it, we were always open to sit down and talk about it. I want to explain to them what my reasoning was for this.
“Just because I felt like America in the whole wasn’t doing the right thing about stuff that was happening to the people of my color,” continued Poe. “I feel like the oppression that’s being had, the racial injustice that is being had was really unfair and I feel like us as a country can do more. … I just want it to be known that I felt like it was wrong. I felt like it is wrong in the past, present, hopefully not in the future but maybe.”
Kneeling has always been a rather touchy topic in the NFL versus that of the NBA and recently the MLB. Poe, along with multiple athletes around the league, feel now more than ever that the voices of Black athletes must be heard due to the recent killings and rulings from police brutality that've occurred in the span of a few months.
The Cowboys defensive tackle has been a noticeable kneeler in a crowd of teammates, apparently respecting Poe's decision, standing during the anthem.
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