The Chicago Bears are putting their best foot forward with the community in mind, and doing so well before every other team in the league.
In a video shared via the team’s social media platforms, a committee of Bears players announced they have already raised $250,000 toward the NFL’s new social justice initiatives. Further, the team will match what was raised by the players and bring the total to $500,000. By doing so, the Bears are the first team in the NFL to maximize the league’s new social justice initiative. Good work all around, guys.
It’s an effort led by Mitch Trubisky, Sam Acho, Akiem Hicks, Trey Burton, and Chase Daniel, along with team Chairman George McCaskey. Those are some big names leading the charge with an effort and commitment to some worthy causes. Acho and McCaskey have previously been at the forefront of the Bears’ public push in this arena, but getting more players involved – including the quarterback/face of the franchise – is a pretty big deal.
“This whole thing got started a little over two years ago when Colin Kaepernick and some players around the NFL were taking knees, and there was a big discussion about what can we, as players and a team, do to help address some of the issues that people are protesting,” Acho said. “And so that’s why we got together and said not only do we want to do stuff in the community, but we also want to put our money behind it.”
It was Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem during the 2016 season (an act intended to bring awareness to social justice causes) that got the ball rolling for the NFL and players to come to an agreement on social justice projects like the one the Bears are now undertaking. So even though Kaepernick hasn’t played since the end of that year, his work is starting to pay off in the form of active players reaching out to make a positive difference in their respective communities. That’s a positive sign for all parties and the hope is that it will pay dividends locally and nationally over time. “This is a just a big step in saying we’re fully committed,” Hicks said. “We’re all in.”
You can watch Trubisky, Acho, Hicks, Burton, Daniel, and McCaskey discuss the importance of supporting organizations that put an emphasis on education, criminal justice reforms, and other meaningful causes as they reach toward their goal of making the most of their social justice reform efforts here: