McCourty twins use platform to create discussion about racial injustice

As the protests, peaceful and violent, erupted over the killing of George Floyd this weekend, Devin and Jason McCourty used their platform to create a discussion over social justice and racial equality. On Sunday night, the twins and members of the Patriots secondary held a round table discussion on their Double Coverage Podcast.

For almost an hour and 15 minutes, the [...]

As the protests, peaceful and violent, erupted over the killing of George Floyd this weekend, Devin and Jason McCourty used their platform to create a discussion over social justice and racial equality. On Sunday night, the twins and members of the Patriots secondary held a round table discussion on their Double Coverage Podcast.

For almost an hour and 15 minutes, the McCourty's interviewed multiple people who are actively trying to bring change. They also answered questions and discussed their own personal feelings on the ongoing racial problems in this country.

“Me and Dev just thought with everything going on in the country, we'd spend some time just to talk about it,” Jason McCourty said in the podcast. “Sports is obviously something that plays a huge role in our loves, but right now sports doesn't seem like something that is very important. There's a lot of things going on in our country from the pandemic to the racial issues that have gone on and plagued our country for hundreds and hundreds of years. We just wanted to open up our platform and be able to discuss some of these things.”

This isn't out of the ordinary for the McCourty twins. The brothers have dedicated their life to social justice causes. Their work in the community led to a nomination for the 2020 Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award, which is given to athletes who have created positive impacts in their communities.

Last year, the McCourty's along with Matthew Slater and Duron Harmon, fought to get an education bill passed in Massachusetts. In October, the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate unanimously passed the Student Opportunity Act. The bill will invest $1.5 billion into the states public education school system.

“That's part of it,” Jason McCourty said. “When you can attack legislation and get laws and the system changed, that's going to bring a real impact. But we can't expect that to happen over night. It's been hundreds of years in the process of being made the way it is.”

It wasn't long ago that peaceful protests broke out in the NFL. Started by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, players started to kneel during the National Anthem to bring awareness to social injustice. In 2017, following disparaging comments and tweets from President Donald Trump, Patriots players even knelt during the anthem before a game against the Houston Texans. The players were booed in Gillette Stadium for their action while people who disagreed with the action said they were disrespecting the military and country.

On Sunday, Devin McCourty said it was sadly ironic that people disparaged Kaepernick while years later a black man was killed when Minneapolis, Minn., police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

“Look at Kaepernick. A couple years ago, people were going crazy. ‘This guy is this, he's that,'” Devin McCourty said. “Then, the irony of a man losing his life because a knee is in his neck and now, all of a sudden, people are like, oh man, let me take an extra second to listen to what Kaepernick said in an interview about why he took a knee and why he did a silent protest.

“When you listen to it, it's like oh, that's kind of how I feel right now after watching that video. It's like, if you ever stopped and listen to what he was doing and his true message, it would have never got to that point and you would have never talked about the military, you would have never talked about the flag. You would've understood he was talking about freedom.”

On the podcast, the brothers also talked with their former Rutgers teammate Chris Quaye, who is a private banker at Morgan Stanley. He talked about being an African American in a workplace where he is the overwhelming minority. Quaye, who is a part of his company's diversity council, aims to help open doors for other minorities looking to get into the industry by educating youth.

The McCourty twins spoke with former Rutgers linebacker Antonio Lowery, who is an African American police officer in Miami. He spoke about how he was taught that police offers were ‘bad' and ‘dangerous' while growing up. Lowery says he wants to “change the narrative” and he takes time to mentor kids.

The brothers then spoke with Pat Brown, a former Rutgers wide receiver, who is the football coach at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. He spoke about trying to bring student athletes together who come from different backgrounds in regards to race and family wealth.

The McCourty twins also discussed about how people can invest in their community to make a difference and how a simple talk with someone can go a long way.

“We have to take advantage of the platform we have while we have it,” said Jason McCourty. “Once you retire you can do it, but it's almost too late to demand the audience the people that you have. It just starts with a conversation.”

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ