Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie asked coach Doug Pederson to speak during a virtual team meeting Monday, Tim McManus of ESPN reports. Lurie opened a discussion on the events of the past week following George Floyd’s death.
Lurie said the Eagles are an extended family expected to deal with things together. Receiver DeSean Jackson, quarterback Carson Wentz and tight end Zach Ertz were among players who spoke.
Lurie then released a statement Tuesday.
“I have spent a great deal of time over the last few days reflecting,” Lurie wrote. “Listening to my own heart; listening to others. At times, I have too many words. At times, I have no words. But silence is not an option.
“I am heartbroken and repulsed. There are no words strong enough to describe the horrific deaths and injustices that the black community continues to endure.
“We as a human race are valiantly struggling in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in our country, we have been battling a relentless social pandemic for our entire history.
“Systemic racism, discrimination, violence and oppression of minorities, it has been our past, and it is our present. It remains who we are. We need to be honest with ourselves and own that.
“We are all part of the solution. It starts with us. We need to look inward and open our hearts. We need to ask ourselves and others, what can we do to help?
“Our hearts give us the capacity to have compassion, empathy, humility, tolerance, love and caring for others who may look or sound different from us. That’s what makes us fully human: the capacity to listen. Support one another. And then listen some more.
“Many of us, myself included, cannot truly understand the burden of a weight we have never had to carry through life. We must at least try, as best we can, to imagine ourselves as the person who is hurting, neglected and oppressed.
“It is our shared responsibility to address the pain and combat systemic racism. There is so much we can all do to improve our unequal system of justice, our schools and our communities. This is a time for leadership. A time for us to be united in action.
“I am both encouraged and inspired listening to our players and so many others who are dedicated to coming together as people who embrace our shared humanity. We must all continue to have these discussions and turn them into concrete action in order to help foster lasting social change. In the coming days, weeks, months and years, I am dedicated to engaging in dialogue with community leaders, committing our resources to support organizations working on reform, and using our platform to play an active role in the change we must achieve.
“By working together, the power resides in all of us to choose less hate and more love, with open hearts every day of our lives.”