DeAndre Levy

During the season, Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy will express his thoughts in the Free Press about football and life.

It’s hard to be sidelined while you watch your team start the season 1-3, questioning if and how you could've helped. I was bummed to have another setback, but I'm embracing this obstacle and will continue to push forward. It really does suck to be injured. But you know what sucks more than my injury? The fact that some person — man, woman, or child — somewhere is being abused, molested, raped or the like.

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Football is very important to me as a professional football player. I give my all to it when preparing. But never will sport become more important than humanity.

There are many in the sports world that would disagree, like Trent Dilfer, who suggested he chose football over speaking out against childhood slavery. He said he felt like he would let his coach down. What about letting down the child being trafficked? Or the Art Biles and Joe Paternos of the world that were complicit in the acts of sexual abuse by their silence alone.

From fans to players, from the NCAA to the NFL, we cannot continue to prioritize football over humanity. We cannot prioritize football over behaviors that will have grave impacts on a person’s life. We cannot prioritize football over her broken rib. We cannot prioritize football over his silent pain. We cannot prioritize football over her depression. We cannot prioritize football over his PTSD and sleepless nights. We can’t prioritize football over actions that could be the difference of life or death for someone.

I don’t want to have to talk about domestic violence or sexual assault, but I must. I don’t want to be sidelined right now but I am and must continue to move forward in my recovery. Both of these things are part of my world and both need to addressed head on.

Levy is helping to raise funds to test neglected rape kits in Detroit this month. To purchase a shirt, visit Division Street Boutique. Or you can donate to the Enough SAID campaign.

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