Video of Richard Sherman's message: pic.twitter.com/w8tacGRPzr
â Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) September 21, 2016
During his weekly press conference, Richard Sherman passed over talking about the upcoming game against the San Francisco 49ers to address the two most recent police shootings of unarmed black men caught on video. The cornerback, who has been linking arms with his teammates during the national anthem, has been somewhat #AllLivesMatter in the past (he got into a debate with his teammate Michael Bennett, who, remember, is the best Seahawk) and called attention to black-on-black crime. But today, he was more clearly in favor of the #BlackLivesMatter movement that Colin Kaepernickâs stanceâtaking a knee during the anthemâis meant to invoke.
He said: "Whether theyâre taking a knee or whether theyâre locking arms, theyâre trying to bring people together and unite them for a cause. I think the last couple days a couple more guys have gotten shot and killed in the middle of the street. More videos have come out of guys getting killed, and I think people are still missing the point. The reason these guys are kneeling, the reason weâre locking arms is to bring people together to make people aware that this is not right. Itâs not right for people to get killed in the street.â
The teamâs choice to link arms rather than taking a knee or throwing a fist has been excoriated (somewhat rightly), and Sherman chided people for focusing on the specifics. HIs former teammate, Marshawn Lynch, was on âConanâ last night and was even more explicit. He told Conan OâBrien, "I'd rather see him take a knee than stand up, put his hands up, and get murdered."