Brittany Brees, wife of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, took to Instagram on Saturday to blame white people for merely “loving one another” as “God loves us,” and not realizing that that behavior is “the problem” with race.
After explaining that she and Drew Brees are not racists, and have received several death threats in response to her husband’s now disavowed statement that he felt kneeling during the anthem was “disrespect,” Brittany Brees went on to say that merely reading about black history and not being racist, were not enough.
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WE ARE THE PROBLEM . I write this with tears in my eyes and I hope you all hear our hearts. I have read these quotes and scripture 1000 times and every time I read it and the words sink into my heart. I think yes this is what it’s all about…Only until the last few days ,until we experienced the death threats we experienced the hate… Did I realize that these words were speaking directly to us.. how could anyone who knows us or has had interactions with us think that Drew or I have a racist bone in our body? But that’s the whole point . Somehow we as white America, we can feel good about not being racist, feel good about loving one an another as God loves us. We can feel good about educating our children about the horrors of slavery and history. We can read books to our children about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X., Hank Aaron, Barack Obama, Rosa parks, Harriet Tubman.. and feel like we are doing our part to raise our children to love , be unbiased and with no prejudice. To teach them about all of the African Americans that have fought for and risked their lives against racial injustice. Somehow as white Americans we feel like that checks the box of doing the right thing. Not until this week did Drew and I realize THAT THIS IS THE PROBLEM. To say “I don’t agree with disrespecting the flag “.. I now understand was also saying I don’t understand what the problem really is, I don’t understand what you’re fighting for, and I’m not willing to hear you because of our preconceived notion‘s of what that flag means to us. That’s the problem we are not listening, white America is not hearing. We’re not actively LOOKING for racial prejudice. We have heard stories from men and women we have known and loved for years about the racism that occurred in their lives .. stories that were never shared or talked about because somehow they were considered normal. To all of our friends and anyone we hurt …we will do better.. We want to do better , we want to HEAR you, and we will fight for you because thinking we are not part of the problem…is checking the box it means we are are not doing enough. It’s our job to educate ourselves. We are sorry 🙏🏻 -Brittany Brees
A post shared by Brees Dream Foundation (@breesdreamfoundation) on Jun 5, 2020 at 1:55pm PDT
Drew Brees apologized twice for his criticism on NFL anthem protests. That drew a response from President Trump, who criticized the quarterback for backing down.
Brees responded to Trump, telling him that he’s learned the anthem protest issue is “not about the flag.”
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To @realdonaldtrump Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates, and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag. It has never been. We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities. We did this back in 2017, and regretfully I brought it back with my comments this week. We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial & prison reform. We are at a critical juncture in our nation’s history! If not now, then when? We as a white community need to listen and learn from the pain and suffering of our black communities. We must acknowledge the problems, identify the solutions, and then put this into action. The black community cannot do it alone. This will require all of us.
A post shared by Drew Brees (@drewbrees) on Jun 5, 2020 at 7:10pm PDT
Players and executives from across the league have been showing solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. On Saturday, about 70 players, coaches, and executives from the Denver Broncos helped lead a BLM protest in Denver.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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