Connor Barwin on lessons about race he learned in the locker room
Invitee Commentary: Lessons From The Locker Room
A former Eagle and community activist reacts to the killing of George Floyd by sharing lessons on variety and common cause
May. 31, 2020
"People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I haven't been able to stop thinking well-nigh the video. We all saw a white man hold his knee on the back of George Floyd's neck while he went from talking and animate to non having a pulse and dying. How tin anyone with any human compassion in them do that?
I can't end thinking about my son, who turns two tomorrow. If he could understand that video, how would I explain it to him?
I can't assist but recollect about what I can do, and what I haven't washed.
I'm acutely aware that I don't have the answers to what divides u.s.a.; every bit a white male, my role is to approach this discussion with humility. I know I need to exercise amend—and part of that involves me request my African-American brothers and sisters how I can be a better ally in the fight for justice and equality.
Only there is something in my background that I can bring to the discussion, lessons learned from my years in one of the most various workplaces in America—professional sports—and from my parents. My dad was a constabulary officer before he was a city director and he always told me and my brothers the hardest part well-nigh being a law officeholder was deescalating highly volatile, emotional situations.
That's what is so horrible about the killing of George Floyd, like so many other instances in which black men and women have been killed by those sworn to protect them. George Floyd'due south see with police wasn't volatile at all. Information technology was completely nether control.
I've learned that embracing our differences can simply enrich our lives and our communities. That means non only acknowledging our sad history of institutional racism, but too having the difficult conversations about representation we need to have in society to dismantle systemic racism.
When I was a child, my parents told me and my brothers to embrace people that are different. My dad employd to say that for all the colour and variety it would expose u.s. to, exploring other cultures through international travel was similar going to Disneyland for adults. My mom and dad drilled into our heads that different perspectives, dissimilar backgrounds, dissimilar cultures, different means of doing things are where rewards in life can be institute. "That'southward where the magic is," they'd say.
I've traveled a lot, only where I've really felt the ability of my parents' message is in my life as an athlete. A locker room is truly a magical place, a place where people of all different backgrounds come together to achieve mutually common goals. We don't sit effectually talking near social problems so much as embody social change every day, by elevating "we" over "me."
That diversity is an advantage and not a threat, but like my parents told me. When I retired from playing in the NFL I decided to continue my career with the Eagles. I fabricated that decision considering of how special it is to interact and create success with people of vastly different backgrounds.
As we all look for how to help, perchance we could all follow the lessons of the locker room. What kind of game-changer would it be if all Americans sought out fellow citizens of different backgrounds, people they've never connected with?
I often tell people I'k all the same chasing a Super Bowl only what I'm really chasing is being part of a Super Bowl team. I want to be part of the greatness of a various group of people who care about each other so much and will support each other no thing what. It's funny, we talk about athletes existence role models all the time but maybe the true model nosotros should appreciate in sports is embracing diversity every bit a mode to accomplish success as a team.
Equally we all look for how to help, possibly nosotros could all follow the lessons of the locker room. What kind of game-changer would it be if all Americans sought out beau citizens of different backgrounds, people they've never continued with? Yep, it may be uncomfortable and inuser-friendly. Merely it also might start to more quickly change our collective mindset, and just as chiefly, modify our actions too.
When I started my foundation, Make The Earth Meliorate, I did information technology because I wanted to practise something positive in the community I lived in, but I really wanted to go along to meet and learn from people who I wouldn't ordinarily interact with. In the final seven years I've made friends in four different neighborhoods that take given me much more than than I could take ever given them, and nosotros've built three amazing parks together with the quaternary ane in pattern at present.
Perhaps the most important thing I've learned is that if we are ever to move forward, representation is key. Everyone deserves a seat at the decision-making table. Of form, we remain a tribal people. We experience more comfy effectually people who look like us, talk like usa, even think like us.
But through sports and in my community work, I've learned that embracing our differences can only enrich our lives and our communities. That means not only acknowledging our sad history of institutional racism, simply also having the hard conversations nigh representation we demand to take in guild to dismantle systemic racism.
It starts with those of us who are white saying what I've been feeling for the past week. White people in this fight need to accept the backbone to act even if it's not comfortable or convenient.
To anybody I know who has dealt with racial, economic and social injustice, I am sad. We haven't done enough. As an individual and through my foundation, Make The World Better, I am recommitting at present to finding ways to take on this fight against racial injustice together.
Photograph courtesy Stacey Salter Moore / SSM Photography 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/guest-commentary-lessons-from-the-locker-room/
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