LaFleur: ‘Football Can Take Back Seat’ to Social-Justice Concerns

"I don’t know what it’s like to be a black man living in America, and I don’t try to pretend to know, but what I do try to do is listen, show empathy."

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The murder of George Floyd, and the protests and conversations that have followed, have been a distraction that Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur is perfectly willing to deal with during these tragically historic times.

“We’ve got to listen to our players and our coaches, and to the rest of America, in how we fix some of these systemic problems,” LaFleur said via a Zoom call on Friday. “I think right now the football can take a back seat to that. I have no problem. I feel really comfortable with where we are from a football standpoint with what we’ve been able to already get installed with our guys. I’m sure as we move forward, there’s going to be a good mix of both.”

On Thursday, LaFleur, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and 11 other players released a video proclaiming “It’s Time for Change.” Later in the day, Packers President Mark Murphy said the team condemns “systemic racism” and is donating money for social-justice issues.

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“Credit to the guys, they came up with this idea,” LaFleur said as part of the associated video. “Everybody put a lot of work into it, a lot of thought, a lot of good thought. Aaron, we had some ideas that we got from some other places, but Aaron Rodgers kind of took the bull by the horns.”

Floyd was killed on May 25 by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as three other officers did nothing to intervene. Video of the murder went viral, and protests and mayhem have raged across the nation in the ensuing days. Even in a virtual offseason, the death sparked strong conversations among the players about societal issues.

“It’s just when I saw that video, it was appalling, man,” LaFleur said. “It’s totally unacceptable. Here we are in 2020, and this stuff is still ongoing. Just really trying to listen to our players, to listen to some of my closest friends that have dealt with this stuff throughout their life and trying to come up with ways to not only talk about it but to be about it and to create the changes that are needed in society. There’s been a lot of discussions. I’d say the majority of my time over the course of this last week has been on other things, on the social injustice, on police brutality. I’ve had far more conversations in regards to those aspects of life instead of football.”

In the video released by the team on Thursday, LaFleur said the right actions are more important than the right words. For LaFleur, that starts with listening.

“I think everybody needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and see what can you do better to help make it equal for everyone,” he said. “Certainly, we’re going to look at everything we do. I feel in my heart I know, and I told this to the team, I don’t know what it’s like to be a black man living in America, and I don’t try to pretend to know, but what I do try to do is listen, show empathy. I told the guys I’m all in for whatever needs to be done to end racism, to end social injustice, to end the police brutality, because I do believe that we’re all equals. The one thing I love about the game of football, about sports, is you get a lot of people from different backgrounds, different religions, different beliefs and different experiences, and we all come together, and we come together with one common goal. It’s just a microcosm of the world and how we need to become one, we need to become united in order to make this place as good of a place as it can possibly be.”

For years, sports has ushered in societal change or made profound statements, whether it was Jesse Owens’ domination in front of Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Olympics, Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising fists at the 1968 Olympics or NFL players taking a knee.

Maybe sports can once again can lead a nation down a better path.

“We have such an incredible platform, specifically in the National Football League, and a lot of people listen and they look up to our players,” LaFleur said. “I’m just hopeful that the rest of society will listen to our players and be as invested as these guys are in this process.”