Last week’s controversy over what liberal Illinois Senator Dick Durbin claimed that President Donald Trump said about Haiti in a private meeting with a group of senators, has brought several NFL players to Haiti’s defense.
In one case, Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril, whose parents are immigrants from Haiti, slammed Trump for his purported dissing of Haiti. “As a proud descendant of Haiti, I’m disappointed by the divisive words from the President. Haitians and others have contributed to this country and should be able to continue to do so,” he said according to Yahoo Sports.
Avril has a long history of working for charitable enterprises in his homeland including helping school children with supplies and clothing, building schools, and even helping Haitian kids come to the U.S.
Minnesota Vikings linebacker Emmanuel Lamur also announced his support for his ancestral home. Lamur, whose parents are from Haiti, insisted that his family just wanted a better life when they came here. “My mom and dad and sister came from Haiti. They worked so hard to get where they’re at right now. They just wanted an opportunity to be here and provide the best opportunities to their kids. Isn’t that what we all want?” he said.
“I’m proud to be a Haitian and an American,” Lamur added. “This is who God made me to be. Would you say the same thing about Haiti if one of your grandchildren was Haitian? Why not use your gift to make the world a better place? We have many great people in this world of all races and nationalities who have done great things. Where’s the love?”
Another player of Haitian ancestry, San Francisco 49ers receiver Pierre Garcon, was upset by Trump’s alleged comments, but also said that he “forgave” Trump for his comments.
“We forgive him, that’s all we really can do,” Garcon told TMZ Sports. “You can only try to show somebody something if they don’t want to experience it. We are happy to be from Haiti, we are happy to be Haitian immigrants, there are a lot of Haitian people that are in America who are happy to come here and be an asset to the country and take pride in that.”
“You don’t fight fire with fire,” Garcon insisted, “you try to shed light on the situation and try to see a different point of view to encourage and embrace and enlighten everyone on what we have.”
Finally, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, who has also visited Haiti before, also jumped to the country’s defense last week with a Tweet offering “much love” to the impoverished nation.
Much love for the people of Haiti! They’ve been thru so much but it was incredible to see so much hope in them—even tho they’ve been stricken by so many natural disasters. Such a resilient nation & a place I’m passionate about. Definitely changed @jmattjmattjmatt and I forever! pic.twitter.com/IiuVudjACC
— Carson Wentz (@cj_wentz) January 13, 2018
But, even as these NFL players were reacting to the news reports of what a partisan liberal senator said of the president, another U.S. senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky, said that he knows Trump is no racist because several years ago the president had donated a large sum of cash to help him do eye surgeries for the needy people of Haiti.
“It is unfair to draw conclusions from a remark that I think wasn’t constructive is the least we can say and I think it is unfair to all of a sudden, paint him, well, he’s a racist,” Paul said, “when I know for a fact he cares very deeply about the people in Haiti because he helped to finance a trip, we were able to give vision back for 200 people in Haiti.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.