Current and former Syracuse players are joining athletes across the country in expressing frustration and pain after police in Kenosha, Wisconsin shot Jacob Blake on Sunday. 

Police officers shot Blake, a Black man, seven times in the back outside his car. Blake was left partially paralyzed, according to his lawyers. Three days later, 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse, who is white, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide in a shooting that killed two people at a protest in Kenosha over the police shooting of Blake. 

Several major sports leagues boycotted games yesterday in response to the police shooting. Athletes and coaches have called for justice, pleaded to “stop killing unarmed Black people,” and said they don’t feel safe in the United States. They’ve also questioned the role of sports in society, one that Los Angeles Clippers’ Doc Rivers said doesn’t love Black people.

“Why am I playing in a country to entertain people that don’t care about our well being unless we’re on the field,” Tyrell Richards, a starting linebacker for Syracuse, tweeted on Thursday. “F*** playing sports, we don’t need to distract them from s***, make everyone look at what’s really going on because at the end of the day … I AM JACOB BLAKE.” 

Former SU football player Sean Onwualu and Cameron Jordan, a receiver who left the program this summer, retweeted Richards’ message. Jordan in a separate tweet admonished the retort of “blue lives matter” in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. When he steps off the field and removes his jersey, he goes from being cheered for to returning to being the “most hated and feared race in America,” Jordan said. 

Former SU defensive lineman Kendall Coleman criticized an article about Rittenhouse because it framed him as a “vigilante.” Several Orange athletes and alumni, including Justyn Knight, Kingsley Jonathan, Matthew Bergeron, Kenneth Ruff Jr. and Luke Benson either liked or retweeted it.

Director of Athletics John Wildhack said in a statement Thursday that SU is “saddened and angered by the senseless shooting of Jacob Blake,” adding that the Orange are “building a culture that respects every individual, particularly Black and Brown people who have suffered through racism, oppression and suppression.”

As of now, the ACC is pushing forward with the fall football season alongside the SEC and Big 12. The Orange have one week left in training camp, but have sat out several practices with concerns over health guidelines, mostly those of other schools. 

Earlier this summer, Syracuse held team meetings over Zoom to discuss the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery. Head coach Dino Babers said his players are allowed to express themselves, but he prefers his players to be educated on a topic before speaking their minds. Babers told reporters June 11 that his team is “energized” and he hopes to see action. 

“Our generation didn’t get it done,” Babers told reporters. “You young people, with the generation of the 50s, 60s, 70s, being the older people, I really believe they have a chance to get it done. I’m really excited about what they could do. I’m with them. If they get it done, it’ll be a bigger win than Syracuse was ever against Clemson. I’ll be more proud of them.”

The NBA’s boycott came exactly four years after Colin Kaepernick took a knee. And, 50 years ago, nine Syracuse football players boycotted spring practices and sat out the season for equal rights.

Here are more reactions from current and former Syracuse athletes in the wake of the police shooting of Blake:

This story will be updated with additional reporting.

Published on August 27, 2020 at 2:32 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman