Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin has sent a message to his Newcastle United counterpart DeAndre Yedlin while reacting to his Twitter post which has since gone viral.
The USA international joined the social media world in the fight against racism in a different way.
While others opted to mainly buttress the fact that “black lives matter”, the Newcastle right-back gave us something deeper, explaining himself thus in the tweets below:
A couple days after George Floyd’s death, my grandfather texted me and told me he’s glad that I am not living in the U.S. right now because he would fear for my life as a young black man. As days have passed, this text from my grandfather has not been able to leave my mind.
— DeAndre Yedlin (@yedlinny) June 2, 2020
He was born in 1946, lived through the civil rights movement, lived through some terribly racist times in U.S. history, and now 70 years later he STILL fears for the life of his black grandchild, in the country he and his grandchild were born in,
— DeAndre Yedlin (@yedlinny) June 2, 2020
in the country his grandchild represents when he plays for the United States, in the country his grandchild represents when he’s playing in England. I remember being in elementary school, and having to recite the Pledge of Allegiance which ends
— DeAndre Yedlin (@yedlinny) June 2, 2020
“.. with liberty and justice for all.” Every American needs to ask themselves, is there “liberty and justice for all” and if their answer is yes, then they are part of the problem. In no way are we asking black lives to matter more than white lives,
— DeAndre Yedlin (@yedlinny) June 2, 2020
all we’re asking is we are seen as equal, as more than 3/5 of a man, as humans. My heart goes out in solidarity to George Floyd, his family, and all of the countless number of victims that have had their lives taken at the hands of meaningless police brutality.
— DeAndre Yedlin (@yedlinny) June 2, 2020
Being an African-American like the murdered George Floyd – whose death at the hands of a white police officer (who knelt on his neck for nine minutes) in Minneapolis, USA last week sparked the protests – the 26-year-old knows all about racial profiling and discrimination, and he made his intentions very clear with his message.
Bellerin was more than impressed with Yedlin’s post, and re-posting it wasn’t going to be just enough.
The Arsenal star had to react thus to it:
Not many stronger messages than this… ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏾 @yedlinny https://t.co/gvNjG0WGfW
— Héctor Bellerín (@HectorBellerin) June 2, 2020
Bellerin has helped spread the message of the Newcastle star further, reaching out to the swarm of Arsenal and Spanish fans following him on the micro-blogging site.
It’s impressive seeing footballers unite in the cause and fight against racism, and Yedlin has done well not to keep quiet.
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