What we learned from the Vikings' Zoom call on social change
Emotional stories were shared by players and the Vikings' GM on Wednesday
*Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
On Wednesday the Minnesota Vikings held a conference call with local and national media featuring COO Andrew Miller, GM Rick Spielman, defensive coordinator Andre Patterson, safety Anthony Harris, running back Ameer Abdullah and linebacker Eric Kendricks.
In an 81-minute conversation, they talked about a wide range of subjects, from how the team will invest in social change to how they have been handling new conversations within the virtual locker room over the past few weeks. Here is the rundown of the notable news items and most interesting comments…
Vikings owners are donating $5 million to social justice causes
Miller opened the call by announcing that the Vikings would be making a sizeable donation to “various social justice causes.” We will probably find out exactly what that means with further announcements in the near future.
“We understand as leaders and an organization that it’s going to take more than money, more than statements, and frankly, it’s going to take action,” Miller said. “And we’re committed. We’re committed as an organization to eliminate racism, to influence positive reform of law enforcement, to promote racial and social equity through education... We’re committed to building on the foundation of our internal culture to become champions of diversity and inclusion.”
A scholarship in George Floyd’s name was mentioned and Eric Kendricks brought up the organization “All Square,” which assists people who have been in trouble with the law acclimate back into society.
This issue is personal for Rick Spielman
Spielman has never spoken before about discrimination against his three kids, who are black. (Here’s an article from 2003 talking about Spielman having a multiracial family). On Wednesday’s call he choked up talking about an incident in which police thought his son had stolen his wife’s car.
“When I’m able to go out in the community with my wife and we have our kids with us, they see a whole different world,” Spielman said. “But when they go out on their own, one of my sons gets pulled over because he’s driving my wife’s car that’s a really nice car. And he gets pulled over because of the color of his skin. To think that black man can’t be driving that car, he must’ve stolen that car. My son actually had to call home and get my wife on the phone to explain that is our own and that is our car. I struggle to try to explain to our kids why they have to live in two different worlds.”
Spielman also brought up a recent meeting in which black scouts explained some of their experiences on the road and the fear that if they were pulled over that they might not see their families again.
“Our white scouts and our white personnel people who were on there can’t understand that because they’ve never been in that situation,” Spielman said.
Mike Zimmer’s words were important to players
When Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem in 2016, the Vikings decided to link arms. Head coach Mike Zimmer made it clear (and has several times since) that he did not support kneeling. So naturally it was worth asking about Zimmer’s message to the team after the killing of George Floyd.
Zimmer’s message was that he can’t relate to many of the experiences that his players have had but he has their back.
“Personally, when Zim addressed it in the meeting room, it was a big thing because he communicated to us that he does not understand,” Kendricks said. “He is not from the same background. He does not share the same skin. He can’t begin to relate with us, but he hears us and he’s there for us. He expressed that if we want him to get involved with anything that we have going on as a committee, that he’s right there with us. That’s the thing that we all need to start is having that dialogue. It’s uncomfortable to say that, and I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to do that. For him to come and say that to everybody was big.”
Abdullah said that the Vikings’ head coach expressed openness to listening to players’ perspectives on recent events.
“I think the biggest thing I took away from when Zim addressed the team was just his openness to discussion,” Abdullah said. “A lot of times when you’re the head coach, you don’t always have to hear your players out. You don’t always have to hear what they’ve got to say because what you say sometimes is felt and is administered throughout the team. But he humbled himself greatly and said, ‘man, I don’t understand and maybe I haven’t given this as much attention, but I know I love every single last one of you guys in this room and I’ll fight for you guys just like you were my sons.’ That meant a lot for me.”
Andre Patterson encouraged players to talk about recent events
One of the interesting elements of teams having discussions about their backgrounds is that it’s taking place via Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings rather than going on within the locker room.
The Vikings’ defensive coordinator, who has been long known for forming deep connections with his players, suggested that they turn a virtual meeting into a locker room atmosphere and share personal stories in order to have players better understand each other’s perspectives.
“We had a team meeting right after everything started to happen and one of the things that we encouraged the guys to do was talk to one another because if we were here that would be going on in our locker room,” Patterson said. “In the six years we've been here, we've gone through some pretty tough things as a football team and we've gone through it together. I just want to make sure when this happened that our players did that even though we were spread out over the country. That they reached out, communicated and talked to each other to help each other get through because the biggest things is when you keep all this trapped inside it just builds and builds and builds and you have an explosion.”
Players have met with the Minneapolis Police Chief
Vikings players aren’t just talking to each other, they are speaking with leaders about George Floyd’s death and the ways in which they can prevent future violence against citizens. Kendricks, Anthony Barr and eight other players met with the MPD chief of police to talk about their perspective and learn about the challenges that police face.
“I can't be more proud of them for getting prepared and asking the questions,” Spielman said. “I was also impressed with Chief Arradondo and his openness to talk to us about all the issues and talk to us about the issues within the force. It was another one of those examples of having these types of meetings to have those uncomfortable conversations on what's going on and what is going on and how we can all come together to make change.”
Anthony Harris said that simply speaking out against police wouldn’t be productive. He feels that it’s better to connect and work together.
“We don't think condemning and distancing ourselves and not having those hard conversations is going to be productive to bringing us closer together and building a better connection where there isn't such a harsh or troubling relationship between law enforcement and the community,” Harris said. “In our efforts to continue to reach out, to continue to try and understand some of the layouts and some of the things that they go through as well and them hearing from our side and perspective, we believe that's going to be something that bridges the disconnect.”
Kneeling and Kaepernick questions went unanswered
Since 2016, kneeling as been at the center of debate that has gone far beyond sports. There aren’t many issues that have become more hotly contested to the point in which the president is making public comments. On Wednesday’s call, the Vikings avoided committing to anything regarding what they might do during games but Kendricks said he expects many NFL players around the league to kneel.
“Do I see us seeing more of it? Yes. That’s because I feel like players now are starting to finally feel heard,” Kendricks said. “People are starting to speak up about these issues that happen in their communities. But as far as, have we talked about it internally with the Vikings? Man, we haven’t specifically talked about protesting in general, but I know we’ve talked about numerous things.”
Spielman was asked about his perspective as a personnel decision maker about the status of Kaepernick, who hasn’t played since 2016 and received a settlement from the league regarding a collusion case. The Vikings’ GM did not give a direct answer.
“I appreciate the question, but today’s focus, I want to keep on what we’re talking about, and we’re talking about right now, what we’re doing as an organization and we can do individually to create the changes necessary in this country,” Spielman said. “Down the road, if there’s an appropriate time, we can address things, but I want to keep the football-related stuff out of this, because I don’t want the message to get diluted from what we’re trying to accomplish today.”
If the Vikings, one of the more progressive teams in the NFL, aren’t answering the Kaepernick question, the odds do not appear high that we will be seeing him in the NFL in 2020.
Eric Kendricks plans to speak with Roger Goodell
Last week Kendricks took to social media to criticize the NFL’s statement about George Floyd and asked for action. Since then Roger Goodell put out a statement saying “Black Lives Matter” and apologizing for the lack of support for players speaking out back in 2016. The Vikings’ linebacker said he is working on a conversation with Goodell soon.
“That response was good,” Kendricks said. “That's what we wanted, we wanted to be acknowledged. We wanted it to be out there. It's uncomfortable for everybody. Obviously we play football and we want to try to keep it to football as much as possible, but these are issues that are facing the majority of the players' communities. For us to feel like we can't speak up about it and x-y-z, it just didn't feel right. Finally having Goodell say those things and having our back, I feel like we can all move forward now.”
Kendricks speaking out was initially surprising because he has not been a front-facing player on issues like this in the past.
“I felt like I had to speak out, whereas times before, I might have been more timid, more shy,” Kendricks said. “This was an issue that we continue to face. It wasn't going to change, and I decided to use my platform. It was important. I had to say something.”
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