Detroit Lions Cancel Football Practice in Protest of Jacob Blake Shooting

Posted on by Sophie Robinson

The Detroit Lions canceled practice Tuesday to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

What We Know:

  • Upon canceling Tuesday’s practice, the team lined up outside their practice facility in a united front with their head coach Matt Patricia to addressed reporters as a team. They shared with reporters that they will be part of the change in the United States against police brutality, a move that came as a surprise to some as previously neither the team nor any of its players have been vocal as public activists in the social justice world.

  • Three Lions players, safety Duron Harmon, defensive end Trey Flowers, and offensive tackle Taylor Decker, addressed the media directly sharing why they felt football wasn’t the most important happening today when they walked into the practice facility. They shared it was more important to speak out and send a message that what happened to Blake, as well as many others in this country is not acceptable. “As a team, we looked each other in the eyes and realized that football isn’t important today,” Harmon said. “We have a platform that we are able to use not just to raise awareness but to create change.”
  • Harmon said the Lions typically do everything they can to win football games but they’ll do “everything [they] can to bring change as well.” The Lions brought out whiteboards typically used during practice, with two phrases written on them: “The World Can’t Go On” and “We Won’t Be Silent.” Flowers said, “we can’t say silent. We cannot be going on in the world with our regular day. So today, unified we stand here and we came up with these words, these slogans, and we spread the message, spread the word.”

  • Decker, who is white, said the Lions had “really real conversations” on Tuesday morning during which he heard real pain and fear from his teammates, relying the story of one of his teammates who said his mother calls to check on him daily to make sure he gets home. “Just to hear the pain and fear from people that I care about, people that I love, are going through, I know it’s not my reality, but they shouldn’t have to go through that. They shouldn’t have to have that fear,” Decker said during the demonstration on Tuesday outside the practice facility.
  • Throughout their 10-minute address, Flowers, Harmon, and Decker stressed wanting to be the change and catalyst against police brutality and social injustice. “The Detroit Lions will be the change. We won’t be silent,” Harmon said. “We will not become numb to police brutality and social injustice.” The Lions also share a personal connection with the police brutality they discussed, as safety Tracy Walker is the cousin of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed in Brunswick, Georgia, earlier this year.
  • The decision to cancel practice was not one planned in advance, instead, it happened organically, starting with a team meeting where Patricia opened the floor for discussion. According to Lions quarterback, Matthew Stafford, the conversation lasted hours and focused solely on the experiences of players, not football. After the meeting, Patricia shared that it didn’t “feel right” to focus on football and practice after a conversation like that and he said he knew Tuesday would not be about football, but rather what was happening in the world. Patricia said he was proud of his players for sharing their experiences and taking a stand. “There are not even words to express that, right? Talk about brave.” Adding, ” we obviously understand the football side of it, but it’s not about football today.”

The team says that they plan on doing more and continuing their effort to advocate for social justice going forward. “Football is not important today,” Harmon said, adding “God put us here not only to play football but to create change.”

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