Broncos Support Black Lives Matter, Lead Denver Protest March

Broncos
Getty Images/Rob Carr

Wearing black shirts that said, “If You Ain’t With Us, You Against Us,” dozens of Denver Broncos players, coaches, and staff, led a Black Lives Matter protest in Denver on Saturday.

The group was also joined by front office members such as CEO Joe Ellis. Head coach Vic Fangio also joined the protest. It does not appear that General Manager John Elway took part.

“We’re out here as players … to be an agent of change with policy and really taking part in the way this country works,” linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu told the crowd. “And that’s the only way we’re going to fix things — is if we use our voices to speak out on policies and things that are not allowing our people to be successful to have a chance in life. We can’t keep putting a Band-Aid on an old wound.”

“Safety Kareem Jackson was the driving force behind the team’s participation in the event,” ESPN reports. “During a session with local media earlier in the week, Jackson had said he and his teammates were trying to find a way to get involved in protests that have happened daily in downtown Denver since George Floyd was killed on May 25 in Minneapolis.”

Former police officer Derek Chauvin faces second-degree murder charges after he placed his knee on the neck of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The incident was captured on video and led to more than a week of riots and protests across the country.

“The time is always right to do what’s right,” linebacker Von Miller said. “Once we have awareness, we gotta come up out of oblivion. … We’ve got to use our moral compass to make decisions on what’s right. Black, white — it doesn’t matter.”

Broncos coach Vic Fangio made headlines earlier this week when he said that he didn’t see racism in the NFL. Fangio quickly apologized for the remark.

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