‘Enough is enough.’ Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes said he will use his platform to speak out
A video that has sparked Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to jump full-fledged into the Black Lives Matter movement is one he still can’t bear to watch. Not completely.
But as the images of George Floyd’s death prompt action across the country, they’re also prompting a reflection of Mahomes’ own platform.
With permanent changes.
“Enough is enough,” Mahomes said via a video call with media Wednesday. “We gotta do something about this. I’m blessed to have this platform. Why not use it?”
Protesters have lined the streets of American cities since Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25. Mahomes said he has watched the nine-minute video only in parts rather than in entirety, saying, “it hurts me too much to my soul.”
Mahomes, 24, is the son of a black father and white mother, born in small-town Tyler, Texas. While he said he has not experienced less privilege because of his race, he has studied racial inequality — an education gleaned from conversations with his family and other important figures in his life.
In the past two weeks, he has been vocal in his support of the Black Lives Matter campaign to fight racial injustices, initially on his social media accounts and then via participation in a video aimed at the NFL, featuring teammate Tyrann Mathieu and more than a dozen other players. The players requested the league “condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people.”
Mahomes is prominently featured in a powerful clip bolstered by his presence. Looking directly into the camera, he’s the first player to state the movement’s message: “Black Lives Matter.”
“That stuff needed to be said,” Mahomes said Wednesday of the video and his own statement on social media. “We needed to come together as players and show that we believe black lives matter. We believe this needs to be informed. We need to be the role models to go out there and take that step.”
Along with Mathieu, Mahomes said he plans to address voter registration issues, a blueprint that has not yet been diagrammed but includes ongoing conversations with Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and team president Mark Donovan.
The video featuring Mahomes and other NFL stars preceded an important shift in the league’s stance — or at least its public stance — on a demonstration that reached its league back in 2016, when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem before a game.
Mahomes commended the support he’s received from the Chiefs and said he has personally spoken with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. And a day after the players revealed their video, Goodell released his own 81-second video acknowledging the need for change.
“We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter,” Goodell said in the video.
While not outright stated as a direct response to the message from Mahomes and his colleagues throughout the league, the precisely similar wording in Goodell’s statement indicated it was exactly that.
“We think that’s the first step,” Mahomes said. “But we wanna make sure it leads to action.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 4:43 PM with the headline "‘Enough is enough.’ Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes said he will use his platform to speak out."