Cohen: Stick to sports? Here's hoping Seahawks, Kaepernick don't

Seattle Seahawks players and coaches, including cornerback Richard Sherman (25) and head coach Pete Carroll, second from left, stand and link arms during the singing of the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) less Seattle Seahawks players and coaches, including cornerback Richard Sherman (25) and head coach Pete Carroll, second from left, stand and link arms during the singing of the national anthem before an NFL ... more Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Cohen: Stick to sports? Here's hoping Seahawks, Kaepernick don't 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

RENTON -- On Wednesday, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman strode to the podium at the team's headquarters at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center determined to use the microphones placed in front of him for his own purposes.

Sherman declined to take any questions from the assembled reporters, instead deciding to address another rash of officer-involved shootings around the country, from Tyre King in Columbus to Terence Crutcher in Tulsa to Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte.

RELATED: Richard Sherman: Message of anthem protest being lost

Piggybacking on the efforts of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the former Seahawks nemesis who kicked off a player-protest movement with his refusal to stand for the playing of the national anthem during the preseason, Sherman used his platform to send a simple message: Something is wrong -- broken -- in our country and something must be done about it.

"It's not right for people to get killed in the street," Sherman said.

On Thursday, Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin took things a step farther, demanding that attorneys general from all 50 states reassess their police training policies and emphasize de-escalation and crisis-management tactics in order to avoid unwarranted uses of force that result in tragedy.

Baldwin did so without reverting to stereotypes or painting with broad strokes, acknowledging that unlawful killings by police are carried out by a tiny fraction of officers. He has his own reasons for being careful with his words when talking about law enforcement. His father, Doug Baldwin Sr., spent decades as a police officer in the family's hometown of Pensacola, Florida.

The younger Baldwin was forceful nonetheless, finishing a strong opening statement with a flourish by invoking civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

"We must not become a culture, a society, that is more concerned with order than justice," Baldwin said, quoting King. "And I believe that if we are more concerned with order than justice, then we'll lose both."

After I transcribed Baldwin's statement and posted it to Twitter, the first response was typical of the backlash faced by players like him, Sherman and Kaepernick: "who cares" wrote an anonymous user whose Twitter handle was derived from the nickname given to Sherman and the rest of the Seahawks' secondary.

RELATED: Seahawks' Baldwin calls for change in wake of shootings

The implication in this criticism, faced by players, coaches and media members alike who choose to speak out on social issues, is predictable, and can be summed up nicely in a three-word phrase: "Stick to sports."

It's a phrase known to anybody who makes his or her living in athletics. It's also a convenient, pithy and mindless retort used almost exclusively by people who like to keep their sports separate from issues of, say, life or death. To these people, the players they watch on Sunday exist only as objects of entertainment. They might as well be actors playing a part or characters in a video game.

"I turn football on and tune in to get away from all this," another Twitter user wrote later. "Yes there are problems with the world. Do it on your own time."

This is their time.

Players like Baldwin, Sherman and Kaepernick are using their platform to try and save lives. How the hell could we have a problem with that?

I'm a white guy in his mid-30s. I was raised in a nearly all-white neighborhood in a majority-white city, and have never once felt in danger because of the color of my skin or ethnic background. (Save for the anti-Semitic message left anonymously on my voicemail a couple of weeks ago.)

That's simply not the case for these players, who believe they will always be characterized by race, no matter how successful their playing careers.

"I'm a black man in America, and that outweighs every play that I ever make on a football field," Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett said from the podium after Baldwin. "No matter how many sacks I make, if I walk into the wrong place, they're going to see me as a black man."

Some critics have argued that protests led by millionaires lack the air of authenticity, but athletes, from Jackie Robinson to Juan Carlos and Tommie Smith to Muhammad Ali, have played a major role in pushing for social advancement for African-Americans for decades now.

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And make no mistake, these players are taking a risk by speaking out. The NFL, perhaps the most corporate of American sports leagues, would sooner reopen negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union than make a political statement. And despite their support of their individual players, teams can't be happy at the prospect of their brands being associated with protest movements.

But speaking out isn't all these players are doing. Kaepernick, who has faced death threats since starting his anthem protest, has pledged $1 million to organizations battling racial inequality. Baldwin is among several Seahawks players meeting with law enforcement and government officials to seek long-term solutions to systemic problems. And hundreds of players -- including Sherman, Bennett and former Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch -- set up their own foundations to improve their communities of origin, many of which are primarily African-American.

The media has a role to play in all of this, Bennett reminded us on Thursday.

"Nobody in the media ever, ever glorifies the greatness that people do off the field," Bennett said. "If you want to see people make changes, you've got to glorify the work that people are doing. So when a kid would see Doug Baldwin doing something great in the community, that's something powerful. He wants to be just like him. If they only see him scoring a touchdown -- that's the only thing they ever highlight -- how are they supposed to see what it really takes to be a man, or what it really takes to be a reliable person in your community?"

Bennett's statement, while a bit hyperbolic -- there are plenty of stories on players' efforts to improve their communities -- mostly rings true: We in the media do tend to pay more attention to negative news regarding players than positive news.

So at the risk of sounding sanctimonious, I'd like to get this on the record: Despite objections from out-of-town media types concerned about local reporters' ability to do their jobs if players only want to address social issues, I hope the work started by the likes of Kaepernick, Sherman, Baldwin and Bennett continues. And I hope that any of us with any platform -- regardless of size -- uses it to advance the causes of justice, echoing the sentiments Baldwin expressed on Thursday when asked why he felt compelled to speak out.

"Why wouldn't you?" he said. "You're a human being."

Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle Seahawks news. Contact sports reporter Stephen Cohen at stephencohen@seattlepi.com or @scohenPI.