saintsfan1976

Brees wasn't "wrong". Stop saying that.

He may have been insensitive to others' feelings on a particular subject but he was not wrong in his feelings or beliefs.

I never heard a teammate address his comments as "hey, we view things differently", instead there was an immediate, loud group of people forcing him to "change" his views.

AsylumGuido

He absolutely wasn't wrong about his feelings. Not at all. I don't believe anyone said he was including Brees himself. He was, once again, according to himself wrong about his interpretation of what the protests were about. Lots of people were wrong about that. Lots of people are still wrong about that. Brees never changed his views. He did, though, come to an understanding of what the the protest was about and how it had nothing to do with his views of God and country.

For those interested here's his complete statements:

I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday. In speaking with some of you, it breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused.

In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country. They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy. Instead, those words have become divisive and hurtful and have misled people into believing that somehow I am an enemy. This could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character.

This is where I stand:

I stand with the black community in the fight against systemic racial injustice and police brutality and support the creation of real policy change that will make a difference.

I condemn the years of oppression that have taken place throughout our black communities and still exists today.

I acknowledge that we as Americans, including myself, have not done enough to fight for that equality or to truly understand the struggles and plight of the black community.

I recognize that I am part of the solution and can be a leader for the black community in this movement.

I will never know what it's like to be a black man or raise black children in America but I will work every day to put myself in those shoes and fight for what is right.

I have ALWAYS been an ally, never an enemy.

I am sick about the way my comments were perceived yesterday, but I take full responsibility and accountability. I recognize that I should do less talking and more listening...and when the black community is talking about their pain, we all need to listen.

For that, I am very sorry and I ask your forgiveness.

And then in a video:

"I know that there's not much I can say that will make things any better right now. But I just want you to see it in my eyes how sorry I am for the comments that I made yesterday. I know that it hurt many people, especially friends, teammates, former teammates, loved ones, people that I care and respect deeply. That was never my intention. I wish I would have laid out what was on my heart in regards to the George Floyd murder, Ahmaud Arbery, the years and years of social injustice, police brutality and the need for so much reform and change in regards to legislation and so many other things to bring equality to our black communities. I am sorry and I will do better and I will be part of the solution. And I am your ally. And I know no words will do that justice."

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

AsylumGuido

From the same article Demario Davis responded:

Saints linebacker Demario Davis responded to Brees' first apology during a Thursday morning appearance on CNN.

"Hearing Drew's apology, and that's the first I heard it, I think that is a form of true leadership. And I would say it because that's taking ownership," Davis said. "What we had hoped the first time was that Drew would elaborate more on racism and the sentiments of the black community, and he admitted he missed the mark. So for him to come out and say I missed the mark, I've been insensitive but what I'm going to do is start doing is listening and learning from the black community and finding ways that I can help them, I think that's a model for all of America. Because historically, in general, most of America has missed the mark in not hearing the cries.

"These are not new cries coming out on behalf of the black community. The black community has been crying for a long time. Now it's turned into a global outcry that it's time to stand up for black lives and make sure that they're not being killed in the streets and putting an end to racism and systematic injustice that's plagued this country for so long."

Davis continued: "And for him to admit that he was wrong and say, you know what, I can do better and I will do better, I think that is leadership at its finest. It's not easy to come out and admit when you're wrong. For a long time, I feel like a lot of people have taken that posture of not wanting to admit that they're wrong. And for him to do that, I think that's very symbolic of America, especially all the ethnic groups that aren't people of color, or black people, in understanding, hey, it's OK. You might have gotten it wrong, but don't get it wrong now.

"And that's what we have to be as a country. We can't get it wrong this time. We all have played a part also in helping try to direct the narrative away from the issues. We've all played a part in that, in getting caught up in different topics. At the end of the day, police brutality in America is a problem, racism in America is a problem, systematic injustice is a problem. And the reason why there are millions of people of all different backgrounds, all different colors, all different ethnic groups in the streets right now protesting, and around the world protesting on behalf of black lives, is because it's a global outcry. Because racism exists, systematic injustice exists, police brutality exists, especially around black people, and we need to fix it. And that's the most important thing."

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

jnormand

AG, you can believe what you want. But my opinion is that he is no different than all the other people that are too afraid to stand up for what they believe in or what they feel is right for fear of being called racist. Being torn apart and scorned by the press and vilified on social media.

He was absolutely justified in believing what he believed and had the right to his own opinion about kneeling. His teammates turned on him because he didn’t agree with them.

I don’t blame Drew for doing the whole public apology. He was at the end of his career. He wanted his team to stay a team. But I don’t believe for a second that any of the BS he put out there was anything more than just back tracking because he was being unfairly vilified and backstabbed by teammates. He conformed to save what little bit of his career he had left. In essence, he caved. Just like everyone else does when they don’t agree with the mob. Eventually they just get right in line for fear of being unjustly crucified. There is nothing righteous about that. It’s terrifying.

But hey, you have the right to your opinion. That was just mine.

AsylumGuido

And you have the right to believe what you wish. We all project how we would react, I suppose, and expect others to have the same or similar reactions. I guess I give Brees far more credit than you and some others appear to give him. I try to expect the best out of people. I believe that Brees has far more character than you seem to acknowledge. There's probably lots of reasons behind our differences in perception. My father always taught me to look for the best in every person and I take that to heart. In your line of work (I believe you have mentioned you are in law enforcement?), and perhaps in your upbringing, you may have learned to be less trusting and more cynical. And I'm not meaning cynical as any sort of insult, either.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

AsylumGuido

I've got a question for you, jnormand. In what way was Brees supposedly backstabbed by Michael Thomas in your opinion? Thomas had made only two public statements concerning the issue. The first was protecting his QB from other's attacks by saying that Brees didn't understand the reason behind the protests. In the second he pointed out that there were others that also didn't understand.