Reid is still considering ways to protest social injustice outside of taking a knee during the anthemPANTHERS
Panthers S Eric Reid yesterday said his collusion case against the NFL will continue "without a doubt" after signing with the team last week, according to David Newton of ESPN.com. The NFLPA in May "filed a grievance against the NFL on Reid's behalf" alleging that team owners and the league were influenced by President Trump and "colluded to prevent his employment because of his protests." Panthers GM Marty Hurney yesterday denied that Reid's grievance with the league was a factor in the team signing him, saying, "This was a football decision." Meanwhile, Reid said that he is still "considering other ways to protest social injustice outside of taking a knee during the national anthem." Reid: "I'm still evaluating the scope of our country, and I'll make that decision later." He said that the Panthers "didn't ask whether he would protest during the national anthem until after he signed" (ESPN.com, 10/1). Reid said of his protests, "Nothing will change unless you talk about it, so we'll continue to talk about it. We'll continue to hold America to the standard it says on paper that we're all created equal because it's not that way right now. But we're going to keep pushing towards that" (NFL.com, 10/1). In Charlotte, Jourdan Rodrigue notes Reid "wore an '#I'mWithKap' shirt in his introductory press conference to further emphasize his alliance" with Colin Kaepernick and their "shared protest of social injustice and police brutality" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/2).
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: In Charlotte, Scott Fowler notes Reid "ripped the Players Coalition," the NFL-funded activism group that "includes a number of current NFL players and addresses social-justice issues." Reid said, "The Players Coalition is an NFL-funded subversion group. That's why I removed myself from them and will keep moving forward with Colin." Reid also said, "My main goal is to empower my people. Colin Kaepernick and I have done numerous events in the community recently. ... Our goal is to use our platform to empower our people not only open the door for us, but to build our own building and have out own door." Fowler notes Reid is "both a football player and an activist." The Panthers are "concerned more about" the former than the latter, but they are "OK with the activism too, or they would have never signed him in the first place" after injuries depleted their secondary once again (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/2).
