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Despite being hundreds of kilometres from their hometowns, American-born players around the CFL are paying close attention to what has been happening back home.

A similar situation played out in 2014, after a white police officer shot and killed a black man (Michael Brown) in Ferguson, Mo. That shooting led to racial tension across the U.S. — just as the recent shootings did.

Gun violence is a major problem in the U.S., but Foster believes there needs to be a differentiation between random incidents and those involving police officers.

“People always say, ‘What about this shooting or that shooting?’ ” Foster said. “Well, those are criminals. We can’t hold them to the same standards as we hold policemen who are here to protect and serve us.”

Roughriders defensive back Brandon McDonald, who hails from Collins, Miss., said “it’s crazy the way things have been happening.” But he, like many others, feels helpless to change things.

“I haven’t had any situations where I feel like I can relate, but I’ve definitely been around the situation to where I can be a witness that it is happening,” he said.

“It is what it is. This is just the way that things go sometimes. You can’t control what happens. All you can do is roll with the punches.”

Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant said racism was part of his upbringing — and as proof he pointed to the fact that his home state of South Carolina was the last state to remove the Confederate flag from its capitol building. That happened in 2015.