George Floyd: Listening is one way to start

I woke up Sunday morning at my parent’s house in Frisco, Texas. My nephew just graduated high school the day before and I am on radio furlough this week. It was the first time I left the house for an extended time since the pandemic started.

I showered, went downstairs, made breakfast for the parents and came back up to the spare bedroom to grab my phone. An old friend had texted me, saying he was done with me. He said I had a voice and I wasn’t using it.

I wasn’t using it because I didn’t know what to say yet. Covering Oklahoma football, I’m no stranger to racial tensions. We've had a few incidents in Norman, most notably, a spring football that almost didn't happen in 2015 after a racist chant from a campus fraternity was caught on video.

I watched the George Floyd video.

I watched it once.

That was all I needed. It was seared into my memory. Every frame was burned into my brain. It was the same feeling when I saw the SAE video. I was numb. I wasn’t shocked as much as I was utterly deflated. We were headed down this road once more.

None of us at SoonerScoop are black guys. But all of our lives intersect with people of color.

We all came from our own bubbles that contained a certain amount of experiences and perspective. But we’ve spent our careers invading the bubbles of other people who are not at all like us. Stepping into other people’s lives and hearing their stories, telling their stories, changed ours.

I’ve watched, covered and built relationships with 17 and 18-year old young men like Adrian Peterson who had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

I’ve also seen young men like Julian Wilson show up to an OU summer camp six days in a row trying to earn a college scholarship.

Everyone has a story. We’ve all been around to tell them. And every one of those people we’ve covered is hurting right now.

We can’t speak for the black community. But we can speak for a lot of you who love OU football, who love the players who make you cheer on Saturday’s every fall.

Our experiences getting to know young, black men doesn’t mean we understand what it is like for them to get pulled over by a police officer driving to or from home on a weekend.

But we get a glimpse into what their lives are like. And it’s different from ours. It’s different for black coaches too.

When someone says OU needs to hire a young, black coach who can recruit, it’s not overt racism. But I’ve had this discussion with black coaches. They feel the tinge of racism in those comments. They feel they are being painted as less than other coaches from an x’s and o’s standpoint. That because of the color of their skin, they are pigeon-holed as only being useful for one thing.

And that’s not even getting started with social media, where fans will tell players to stick to sports if they dare broach the subject of politics. To you, it might seem warranted. To a black player, it simply says, ‘I only care about you if you make plays on the field.’

And I don’t want to be too hard on fans. There are a lot of other things and a lot of other reasons why you don’t get to know players as people. Journalists have to jump through hoops in order to tell anyone’s story in this day and age.

So this is our message to you: Listen.

Listen to what these young, black men are saying. Listen to how everything that’s been going on in our country makes them feel. Stop with all the political bullshit for a day, 10 days, one month. Try and step into their bubble. Because you have no idea what it’s like in a lot of these athlete’s worlds.

Don't politicize this. Everyone is trying to do that right now. Don’t deflect. This isn’t about police, protestors or rioters right now. As Twitter put it best: This isn’t Black vs. White. This is Everyone vs. Racism.

Stop getting caught up in the politics long enough to hear what these young men have to say about being a black man in this country. Stop contributing to all the discord and incongruity and find a way to sit back and listen.

It’s time to open up your ears, put your guard down, your ego, your memes and just listen. It’s time to be open and understand what’s at stake.

It’s my pledge that any former or current player that would like to be heard, would like to be listened to, can be. Let’s let people into your bubble. I’ll personally take your phone call. I’ll tell your story. I’ll help attack the ‘shut up and play ball’ crowd with you.

To my old friend who is done with me, I’m not done with you. I never will be. I sometimes don’t want to admit my voice is as big as it is. And we sometimes can’t admit SoonerScoop is as big as it is. We’re guilty of that.

So this is our message, this is what we want you to do.

We want you to listen.

SoonerScoop stands with those in the black community and offers as much support as we can give. We want to tell your stories during this time. We can't make meaningful change without you. Players, former players, fans, families, feel free to reach out to Carey Murdock via phone or text at 405-503-4846 so your voice can be heard. We want to tell your stories and allow people to better understand you and how we can come together as a fanbase and a country.