Bob Bradley spoke to media after training on Friday, August 28.
Man, where do we start? It’s August 28th.
In 1963, that was the March on Washington.
In 1945, Branch Rickey met with Jackie Robinson about becoming the first black man to play in the major leagues.
And yet, somehow after all these things, the fact that, a white guy like me knows some of those facts doesn’t feel like it’s very good. The divide that everybody talks about right now. As a coach, we always think about 'we'. We talk about a team. What are we all about? What do we stand for? And so today, when I think about 'we', it’s not just our team. It’s not just LAFC. 'We' for me today would be all the people that really want change. And I know that’s not everyone. Because the divisive rhetoric, and the lies and the misinformation that comes from other people, all we hear is about fear.
Man, Doc Rivers said it so well when he spoke out the other day. They make it seem like they’re coming to our town, they make it seem like they’re coming to our city. I don’t know who they are, but I do know about we. And I know that we’re not getting the job done when we let any of that divisive rhetoric and misinformation and lies take away from what we need to be about, what we need to do. We need a real discussion on policing. That is simple. And I believe that there’s a majority of people in the US that understand that. But we also support the police. We’re not anti-police. And when we let them put an ad that has a phone ringing and an answering machine picking up calls, that is getting in the way of the real things that we need to be on top of. And then we are losing. Then we are letting them win. So, somehow, we have to be better and smarter when we protest about police brutality.
We’ve got to make sure that protest is peaceful. Because if it’s not peaceful, it’s going to end up on some news, or some social media, and it’s going to take away from our efforts to get things the way they need to be. And so, the 'we' in this case, are all of us that absolutely, we see these videos. We see these incredible murders. Sad, sad families over and over and over. And we can’t let the rhetoric and the misinformation and the lies get in the way of what we need to do. We can’t be against each other. We’ve got to find a way to change that.
And so, whether it’s the Baltimore Ravens coming out with a statement with real detail, that was awesome. I go back to Doc Rivers. Yes, when he speaks and says 'we', he’s talking about being a black man, and I understand that the kind of discussions that he had to have with his family are different than the discussions that I’ve had with my children. But I want for one second to know that, you know what? 'We' means Doc Rivers. 'We' means me. 'We' means all of us that see what’s going on and want change.
And we need to find the right way to speak respectfully to police who have a hard job, to work with police for new ways of policing, de-escalation. We’ve got to make sure that now we are winning this moment, all right? Because if we don’t, the strategic words and information, misinformation, lies that comes from the other group of people is only taking us away from the things that we must must find a way to change.
