5 things we learned from Week 4 of Carolina Panthers camp
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers No. 2: Social injustice fight remains key
The shocking incident involving Jacob Blake has brought social injustice to the forefront of everybody’s thoughts once again, not like it ever went away. This is something the Carolina Panthers support in no uncertain terms. And plenty of players have spoken out once again this week during their media availability at training camp.
The likes of Kenny Robinson and Tahir Whitehead spoke eloquently about the drastic need for change at the earliest possible opportunity. Zach Kerr was another who delivered a thought-provoking message claiming it should be everyone’s responsibility to educate, train, and promote equality.
"“I want people to understand that this is a human issue. This isn’t a sports issue. This isn’t an athletic issue. This is an issue that humans need to fix. We have our platform, and we use our platform,” Kerr said, “but there are people in place that set these laws and set this systematic oppression that we’ve been dealing for years, hundreds of years. “My whole thing is we need to take action on that. It’s hard to undo years and years of different systematic oppression. But action needs to start. You’ve got to start somewhere. (I)t takes longer for me to get my barber’s license than it takes for me to become a cop. Those are the types of things that we need to talk about, and we need to address. I think we need to focus more on that than just radically going to point B.”"
The Panthers have been incredibly supportive of their players during this difficult time. Owner David Tepper and head coach Matt Rhule have provided them with a security blanket to express themselves without fear of repercussions. This is not something that was evident within the organization under the previous regime, to put it mildly.