You might remember earlier this month, when President Donald Trump acknowledged one of the reasons some NFL players have been demonstrating during the national anthem and asked for suggestions for names of people to pardon (see story).
As a reminder, this is what Trump said back on June 8:
"I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me - because that's what they're protesting - people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system," Trump said. "And I understand that. And I'm going to ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated - friends of theirs or people that they know about - and I'm going to take a look at those applications. And if I find, and my committee finds that they are unfairly treated, then we will pardon them or at least let them out (of prison)."
Players - at least the Players Coalition, including Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins - responded to that request from the president today in an op-ed in the New York Times.
The main idea of the op-ed was that the President's power to pardon people can certainly help, but it doesn't change the criminal justice system or help combat systemic racism.
Here's part of the op-ed, penned by Jenkins, Doug Baldwin, Anquan Boldin and Benjamin Watson, four members of the Players Coalition made up of NFL players:
President Trump recently made an offer to National Football League players like us who are committed to protesting injustice. Instead of protesting, he suggested, we should give him names of people we believe were ‘unfairly treated by the justice system.' If he agrees they were treated unfairly, he said, he will pardon them.
To be sure, the president's clemency power can be a valuable tool for redressing injustice. Just look at Alice Johnson, age 63, who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction until her sentence was commuted by President Trump. He should be commended for using his clemency power in that case.
But a handful of pardons will not address the sort of systemic injustice that N.F.L. players have been protesting. These are problems that our government has created, many of which occur at the local level. If President Trump thinks he can end these injustices if we deliver him a few names, he hasn't been listening to us.
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That's just a very small part of the full op-ed. To read the whole thing, click here.
The rest of the piece gets into more specific instances where the players think the criminal justice system should be overhauled and ask the president to use his power to help change it.
An interesting note toward the bottom of the piece tells Trump, "Our being professional athletes has nothing to do with our commitment to fighting injustice. We are citizens who embrace the values of empathy, integrity and justice, and we will fight for what we believe is right."
While that might be true, these players have a platform because of their ability on the football field. One they're using to try to make positive changes in the country.
Several players, including Eagles defensive end Chris Long and former Eagles receiver Torrey Smith, along with Jenkins, also posted video responses to Trump's request:
pic.twitter.com/3E9xdFRq4O— Malcolm Jenkins (@MalcolmJenkins) June 21, 2018
.@realDonaldTrump because you asked... An op-ed from our @playercoalition and my more personal thoughts on pardoning a population, not just a few. Even if all these pardons were carried out, reform is needed. (THREAD) pic.twitter.com/2ghzR6sJj7— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) June 21, 2018
pic.twitter.com/cTH8tL8vV3— Torrey Smith (@TorreySmithWR) June 21, 2018
