Seahawks Receiver Doug Baldwin Demands That Every State Review How It Trains Police

Seattle Seahawks players have been big supporters of Colin Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality and racial injustice, and on Thursday, Doug Baldwin joined the list of NFL athletes speaking out on behalf of the movement. Using his allotted time with the press to speak about Seattle’s upcoming game against the 49ers, Baldwin instead chose to issue a demand to the attorney generals of all 50 states to review their police and law enforcement training practices.

“This is not an isolated incident. This is not an isolated conversation. This is not isolated just to some specific parts of our country. We see that now. And the advancement of technology has proven that, from the video of Rodney King in 1991 to the numerous incidents that we now have visual evidence of today. Now this is not an indictment of our law enforcement agencies, I just want that to be clear. We know that there’s a select few — a very minute few — of law enforcement who are not abiding by those laws an policies. However, we also know that there are laws and policies that are in place that are not correcting the issue that we have in our society right now.

“So as an American, a black male in this country, I’m suggesting, calling — I’m demanding that all 50 state attorney generals call for a review of their policies and training policies for police and law enforcement to eliminate militaristic cultures while putting a higher emphasis on deescalation tactics and crisis management measures.”

Like Richard Sherman, who used his weekly time with the press to speak out in support of the movement, Baldwin took the opportunity to remind everyone of both recent and past examples of police actions against minorities. Baldwin went a little further, however, and spoke about a specific request he’d like to see undertaken, which definitely counts as a constructive addition to the conversation. And it might even get some results:

In the meantime, Baldwin and Sherman are two of the most outspoken players in the NFL, and it’s great to see that they’re using their platforms to fight for something important.