DK Metcalf to wear Emmett Till decal; Seahawks in ‘We want justice’ shirts this season
DK Metcalf was born and raised in Mississippi. He attended its flagship university.
He didn’t have to go to Ole Miss to know his state’s history with Emmett Till.
That is why the Seahawks’ 22-year-old wide receiver is wearing a decal on the back of his helmet this season with the name of Till, the Black teenager from Chicago kidnapped and murdered in 1955 in Mississippi after he allegedly flirted with a white woman inside a store. Till’s killing helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.
K.J. Wright is also from Mississippi. The longest-tenured Seahawk has organized an initiative that he and his teammates will be wearing shirts that read “We Want Justice” during warm-ups before games. The first time will be next weekend, before Seattle’s opener at Atlanta.
The helmet decals and T-shirts are the Seahawks’ latest efforts to carry the Black Lives Matter movement into action.
“I’m really passionate about this, I’m really passionate about my people,” Wright, the veteran Pro Bowl linebacker, said in a team release Friday. “To have this message out there, to have fans see it every day, to have my teammates embrace it, it’s a powerful message.
“It’s simple, it’s clear. We just want justice, plain and simple.
“This has been going on for a long time. The system was created to oppress Black people, and it’s still going on today.”
Wright says he wants to meet with governors and lawmakers “to get these laws changed.”
“There’s stuff in there that’s got to be fixed,” he said. “In order to bring about change, you’ve got to get policies changed. That’s one of my main goals, to get stuff fixed so it’s clear cut in the law book: this is not acceptable.”
The helmet decals are part of an NFL-wide initiative for the 2020 season. The league is giving players the choice to wear on their helmets the name of victims, or “Stop hate,” “It takes all of us,” “End racism” or “Black Lives Matter.”
At every game this season, end zones will have “It Takes All of Us” painted on one end line and “End racism” on the other.
The list of names the players will be wearing on their helmets is, sadly, long.
White Seahawks players Ethan Pocic and Ben Burr-Kirven are participating. Pocic, Russell Wilson’s new starting center, will have George Floyd’s name on his helmet. Burr-Kirven, a linebacker from the University of Washington, will honor Breonna Taylor.
Floyd died after the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his neck into pavement for more than 8 minutes in May. Floyd’s killing and the ongoing outrage over no charges being filed against the police officers who shot Taylor dead while she was in her Louisville home have galvanized athletes in all sports and Americans from all walks to stand up and protest for Black Lives Matter this spring and summer.
The team said the Seahawks will be honoring the following names this season, though some of them might not be on helmets: Till, Taylor, Floyd, Jacob Blake, Ahmaud Arbery, Fred Hampton, Tacoma native Manuel Ellis, Marsha P. Johnson, Trayvon Martin, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, Renee Davis, Mi’Chance Dunlap-Gittens, Tommy Le, Charleena Lyles, Giovonn Joseph-McDade, Trey Pringle, Antwon Rose II, Charles Roundtree, Iosia Faletogo, Jesse Sarey and Darius Tarver.
Pro Bowl cornerback Shaquill Griffin said he will be wearing “Black Lives Matter” on the back of his helmet.
All-Pro safety Jamal Adams is choosing to represent a different message. It is more a demand.
“How many more?”
Adams championed that message while leading an extraordinary team meeting with coach Pete Carroll instead of the team practicing last weekend.
“I’m afraid. I fear for my life as a Black man. And I shouldn’t fear for my life,” Adams told his teammates in their meeting Aug. 29, before they ensured all of them are now registered to vote in the general election Nov. 3.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 1:48 PM.
