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malcolm jenkins

'You aren't listening': Philadelphia Eagles player greeted press with signs and silence.

After the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles were uninvited from their scheduled visit to the White House in early June 2018, star safety Malcolm Jenkins decided to try something different when asked by the media about player protests.

He greeted them with silence — instead answering questions with a series of signs.

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"YOU AREN'T LISTENING," he wrote in all caps. And to be fair, there's good reason to believe they aren't.

Nearly two years after Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest police brutality, some people still don't get the message, wrongly believing that the gesture was intended as a show of disrespect toward the national anthem, the flag, the military, the police, or some combination thereof.

For almost a year now, President Donald Trump has been railing against the league and players who have dared to participate in protests under this false pretense.

It's no wonder that Jenkins — who devotes his free time to visiting prisons, working to improve police-community engagement, and speaking with lawmakers about racial injustice — is sick of having to answer basic questions of what these protests are all about.

Rodney McLeod, Malcolm Jenkins, and Chris Long stand during the national anthem at an October 2017 game. No member of the team kneeled in protest during the 2017 season. Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images.

With poster board and a marker, Jenkins got his message out, focusing on the issues.

"More than 60% of people in prison are people of color," read one of his signs. "Nearly 200,000 juveniles enter the adult criminal system each year, most for non-violent crimes. #StopSchoolPipelineToPrison," read another.

Image from Malcolm Jenkins/Twitter.

On other cards, he played up the off-field work he, his teammates, and friends do to support their causes: the million dollars Kaepernick has given to charity, Chris Long's massive donation to education, and Ben Watson's and Demario Davis' work for voting rights with Louisiana House Bill 265.

Image from Malcolm Jenkins/Twitter.

There's a lot of injustice in the world, and Jenkins is using his platform to try to help. His attitude should be one to emulate, not scorn.

The day of the scheduled White House visit, Jenkins outlined some of his frustrations with the media's tendency to frame NFL players as "anti-America, anti-flag and anti-military."

"It takes empathy and time to listen to others' experiences that may be different than your own,"he wrote. "It takes courage to stand up for the TRUTH even if it's not a popular one."

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He's putting in the work to try to help people who don't have it so easy. He's using his voice (or, in this case, his marker) to lift up the concerns of people society often ignores. He's doing the work we'd all be proud to see our family, neighbors, and elected officials doing.

So why is Jenkins being slammed as ungrateful and spoiled?

Maybe he's right: People aren't listening. It's time they started. We could all learn a lot from his example.

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Already, a growing list of Eagles are refusing a White House visit.

To many players, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue isn't what it used to be.

After his big win, Philadelphia's Malcolm Jenkins was asked if he plans on visiting the White House — an invite traditionally offered to the players of every Super Bowl-winning team.

Jenkins is part of the Players Coalition — an effort by NFL athletes to take action on systemic issues and injustices facing Americans of color. With a White House occupant who's railed against athletes protesting police brutality and urged fans to boycott the NFL, is Jenkins on board visiting 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Malcolm Jenkins. Photo by Elsa/Getty Images.

"No, I personally do not anticipate [going to the White House]," Jenkins answered on CNN's New Day on Feb. 5, which you can watch below.

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"What message would you like to send to the president?" CNN's John Berman pressed the 30-year-old Eagles safety. "I don't have a message for the president," Jenkins responded.

He continued (emphasis added):

“My message has been clear all year. I’m about creating positive change in the communities that I come from — whether it be Philadelphia, New Jersey, Ohio, Louisiana … I want to see changes in our criminal justice system, I want to see us pushing for economic and educational advancement in communities of color and low-income communities, and I want to see our relationships between our communities and our law enforcement be advanced. That’s what myself and my peers have been pushing for for the last two years, and that’s what I’ll continue to do."

Jenkins has joined a growing list of Eagles refusing to visit the White House with its current occupant in office.

Wide receiver Torrey Smith told reporters last week that, should the Eagles be fortunate enough to win the Super Bowl, he would not be going.

"We read the news just like everyone else," said Smith, noting that, while he understands some people may take offense to players protesting social injustice, their assumptions about the protests are flawed. "They call it the anthem protest — we're not protesting the anthem. It's a protest during the anthem."

Torrey Smith. Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images.

Eagles defensive end Chris Long also dismissed a possible White House invitation last week on the podcast Pardon My Take. A vocal critic of Trump who refused to visit the White House last year when he played for the Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots, Long made it clear that his opinion of the president hasn't budged much since last February.

"No, I'm not going to the White House," he said. "Are you kidding me?"

Chris Long. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

While Long hasn't protested the anthem personally, he has publicly supported the players who've done so.

"I play in a league that's 70% black, and my peers — guys I come to work with, guys I respect who are very socially aware and are intellectual guys," he told ESPN in 2016. "If they identify something that they think is worth putting their reputations on the line, creating controversy, I'm going to listen to those guys."

Maybe calling protesting players "sons of bitches" wasn't the best way to move the country forward on this issue after all, Mr. Trump.

So far, these Eagles players have said they're not going to the White House.

Chris Long
Torrey Smith
Malcolm Jenkins

This article may be updated.

malcolm jenkins

'You aren't listening': Philadelphia Eagles player greeted press with signs and silence.

"YOU AREN'T LISTENING," he wrote in all caps. And to be fair, there's good reason to believe they aren't.

With poster board and a marker, Jenkins got his message out, focusing on the issues.

There's a lot of injustice in the world, and Jenkins is using his platform to try to help. His attitude should be one to emulate, not scorn.

Already, a growing list of Eagles are refusing a White House visit.

To many players, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue isn't what it used to be.

After his big win, Philadelphia's Malcolm Jenkins was asked if he plans on visiting the White House — an invite traditionally offered to the players of every Super Bowl-winning team.

"No, I personally do not anticipate [going to the White House]," Jenkins answered on CNN's New Day on Feb. 5, which you can watch below.

Jenkins has joined a growing list of Eagles refusing to visit the White House with its current occupant in office.

So far, these Eagles players have said they're not going to the White House.

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