When the Green Bay Packers convened for meetings one week after George Floyd's death, the team pushed their playbooks aside.
The offensive linemen, like every other position group, typically would have gone through a 45-minute offseason install over Zoom. Instead, the coaching staff gave players an opportunity within their virtual rooms to have conversations about police brutality and other forms of systemic racism.
It was a space for black players to share with white teammates their experiences as black men in America.
“There was no nervousness,” right guard Billy Turner told PackersNews. “There was no thought that the conversation would go in a negative way by any means because I'm fairly close with a lot of the guys in the room. I know their personalities and I know the things that they enjoy, the things that they find passion in. Just getting to know those guys over the past year, it's very evident to me that they care about other people. It doesn't matter the color of your skin. It doesn't matter where you come from. We're all part of one team and one organization.”
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