Jacksonville Jaguars march in support of Black Lives Matter

Chris Conley speaks at JSO. Photo via Mia O'Brien/First Coast News.

Jacksonville Jaguars’ players and staff marched Friday in support of Black Lives Matter and a change they feel has been too long coming.

The group marched from the stadium to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and back again, on Friday, continuing to make unambiguous political statements in the process.

Players have taken stances on such issues before, only to be condemned. In 2014, players wore “I can’t breathe” shirts after the police killing of Eric Garner in New York. In 2017, players knelt during the National Anthem in London.

In 2020, though, there is a new vibe. And players like Wide Receiver Chris Conley will not be placated.

Conley, in his second year with the team, cried when the Ahmaud Arbery video was released this Spring, showing him being killed.

“Shot down and fall on the street like an animal,” was the player’s take.

He noted that “these atrocities have been foreshadowed,” referring to lives cut short, including George Floyd.

Jacksonville has had a front seat to violence as horrible as anywhere else.

“A Confederate monument sits a couple blocks from here,” he notes. “A block from where Ax Handle Saturday happened.”

Ax Handle Saturday was a low point in the city’s history, where racist whites protected the prerogatives of Jim Crow with wanton violence unchecked by law enforcement.

“Revisionist history allows us to believe that systemic racism isn’t real,” Conley adds, saying protests are a “fight for the Constitution.”

The player, alluding to the league’s own burial of certain players for speaking truth too soon, noted the NFL  “marginalized” those who said there was a problem in 2016.

“I challenge all of you to learn this country’s history … to weaponize the voters in this city” to drive change, Conley adds. “This is only the beginning here in Jacksonville.”

Conley’s clarion call, just one of a series of speeches by players and staff, speaks to a newly public political consciousness from an organization most known for lobbying for city money.

Jaguars Running Back coach Terry Robiskie was blunt.

“In my 45 years of coaching, I have never seen a head coach, general manager, and team join like this.”

“Stand for what you believe in … and F the rest of it,” he added.

Owner Shad Khan penned an essay this week arguing that “racism kills.”

“The video capturing the final moments of George Floyd’s life offer the latest horrific evidence of injustice that is all too prevalent in the U.S. No families in this country should have to go to bed at night worrying about whether their children are going to encounter the wrong police officer in the wrong moment. No families should have to worry about their child losing their life just because of the color of their skin. Yet, they do. That should never happen in what should be, and I still believe is, the greatest nation on the planet,” Khan said.

For a team that saw a former front office employee dissuade players from kneeling a few years back, a decision overruled by Khan, this represents progress.

Will the Jaguars continue on a reform path as an organization once this blows over? That remains to be seen.

For players like Chris Conley, though, the game has changed.