49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan: ‘I hope the protests cause change’
By Peter Panacy
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t mince words about protests.
The San Francisco 49ers have played a pretty significant role in the root elements and budding protests surrounding the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death and accused second-degree murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer last week.
Those instances were the subject matter for former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protest back in 2016, which sparked worldwide debate and controversy as it shed light on police brutality and racial injustice.
Nearly five years later, Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan offered his own viewpoints, which have come in the wake of yet further NFL-level controversy surrounding worldwide protests.
“I’m all for protests,” the head coach said on a conference call with reporters Thursday. “I’m all for change. I hope the protests cause change.”
Shanahan joined a number of current 49ers players and NFL’ers in echoing their sentiments for change.
“The same ppl that oppressed cannot be the ones telling us how to protest,” cornerback Richard Sherman tweeted out earlier that day. “It just doesn’t work like that anymore. It worked for a long time but those days are numbered.”
“I’m all for change. I hope the protests cause change.” — 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan
But the entire league isn’t on the same page.
On Wednesday, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees told Yahoo! Finance he “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America.” Sherman and a score of other players criticized Brees’ comments, with Sherman responding “He’s beyond lost.”
Yet Shanahan pointed out the issues with race, particularly within the NFL, don’t extend just to a handful of players. If anything, the head coach thinks it’s much more a leaguewide issue.
“How the heck are there only four black head coaches out of 32?” And only two GMs? The majority of our players are black, so the fact that there are that few, that’s not debatable,” Shanahan continued. “I don’t know if people are openly thinking they’re doing it, but that’s what the problem is. That number is not debatable. And that is an issue.”
Shanahan also pointed out how his defensive coordinator, Robert Saleh, is a Muslim and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower is black. Another Niners assistant, Katie Sowers, made history by becoming the first openly gay coach in Super Bowl history last February.
Yet the 49ers aren’t devoid of being completely complicit here, at least not according to former Carolina Panthers and Niners safety Eric Reid, who criticized San Francisco’s #BlackoutTuesday tweet by saying “I think you meant Blackball Tuesday…I digress.”
Reid was then and remains one of Kaepernick’s staunchest supporters, and the defensive back didn’t hesitate to call out other teams for what’s widely viewed as a blackballing of the former San Francisco quarterback.
Kaepernick and Reid remain free agents.
Regardless, Shanahan made his stance clear on what he feels needs to happen, both within the league and around the country.
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“I don’t know why the numbers are like that, but it’s wrong,” Shanahan said. “And it’s something that hell yeah we want to fix, but it’s not an easy answer. The whole thing with society, everything, it’s all very similar on different levels. That’s why those numbers. Don’t lie. That’s what makes it a fact. And that’s what white people have to admit.”