Bruce speaks with actions. Gave Smith a solid dose of STFU.
Bruce Arians trades barbs with NFLPA's DeMaurice Smith after saying 'protesting doesn't do crap'
On Thursday, Arians told reporters after practice that he held a team meeting in which he challenged players to commit to actions beyond protesting when addressing social issues like racial inequality. One quote in particular from Arians would later make its way to many headlines:
“Protesting doesn’t do crap in my opinion. I’ve been seeing it since 1968.”
The comment was part of a larger quote in which he said “I don’t know that protest is an action,” and that he would beg players “to take action, find a cause and either support it financially or do something to change the situation.”
The headlines featuring Arian’s comment soon caught the attention of Smith, who quote-tweeted one such story and said the coach was “woefully misinformed about the history of protest both within sports and in America.” He included pictures of civil rights hero John Lewis to make his point.
When asked about the response on Friday, Arians doubled down and implied his own history on social issues is longer than Smith’s.
“Yeah, I have a history, and it might be a little longer than his.”
As the Times recounted, that history includes Arians being the first white Virginia Tech player to room with a Black teammate when has was a quarterback at the school.
Arians has also been arguably the NFL’s best coach when it comes to diversity on his staff. All three of his coordinators — offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong — are Black (a first in NFL history), as is his assistant head coach Harold Goodwin. He was also the first to hire two female assistant coaches in defensive line assistant Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bruce-arians-demaurice-smith-protesting-nflpa-buccaneers-221635062.html
