Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins made comments about his controversial shirt that he wore in the NFL’s Week 15 warmups against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Andrew Hawkins made the news this week after wearing a shirt in warmups in support of Tamir Rice, who was shot and killed after holding a fake gun that was mistaken for being real. He was shot by a police officer, and it was one of the more unfortunate incidents that we have seen in quite some time.
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Cleveland police took offense to the show of support, and called for an apology from the Browns’ organization. The Browns declined to apologize for the T-Shirt, and instead showed support for their wide receiver.
Hawkins took the time to make some comments about why he wore the shirt to the media:
"“I was taught that justice is a right that every American should have, and also justice should be the goal of every American. So a call for justice shouldn’t offend or disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn’t warrant an apology. To clarify, I utterly respect and appreciate every police officer that protects and serves all of us with honesty, integrity and the right way. And I don’t think those kinds of officers should be offended at what I did.”"
There have been quite a few shows against police in recent history, with the Mike Brown and Eric Garner situations being the most obvious. Unfortunately there is plenty of hate between races during this point in time, and tension is extremely high.
It will be interesting to see what else happens as far as athletes displaying their beliefs on the field. The NFL and NBA should probably limit what they allow their players to wear on the field to help cut down on these issues. Either way, Hawkins cannot be faulted or hated for standing up for what he believes in.
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