Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson made headlines last week on social media, sharing hateful messages and anti-Semitic beliefs that drew ire from fans, followers, and more. Several NFL players commented on the unexpected hate coming from Jackson, and the three-time Pro Bowl wideout later apologized along with accepting terms of a punishment handed down by his team.
On Monday, DeSean Jackson has reportedly accepted an invitation to reflect on the hatred his spread and learn more about the most horrific even in the history of the Jewish people: the Holocaust. Jackson will visit Auschwitz, the infamous concentration camp in then-German-occupied Poland (via ESPN).
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Part of Jackson's terrible mistake was amplifying messages from known hateful people—along with giving the platform for more individuals to harp on the wrongfully anti-Semitic beliefs. Another high-profile individual was retired NBA small forward Stephen Jackson, who took the Eagles receiver's message and ran with it, sharing multiple videos on Instagram “exposing” people who told DeSean Jackson he had made a mistake and claiming the effort to silence him further proved the original point.
DeSean Jackson will be given the space to learn from his mistake, but damage was down to his reputation. It's respectful to see him change his mind and open his heart to learning more about an event in history that cost the lives of six million Jews in Europe along with countless other lives of marginalized people, including members of the LGBTQ community and the Roma during the same time as Nazi-run systematic genocide.