In December, Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins used his public profile to draw attention to the deaths of two Ohio residents shot by police in separate toy gun incidents. He led the team onto the field before their game against the Bengals wearing a black T-shirt with "Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford III" in bold white letters.
Browns WR Andrew Hawkins says wearing ‘Justice’ T-shirt ‘was the right thing to do’
Hawkins took some heat for wearing a shirt in support of victims of police violence during a pregame warmup last season. He stands by his decision to this day.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
“I didn’t think of it as a protest,” he said. “I was just making a statement about something I believed in. And I struggled with doing it because I understand some people like athletes to be quiet on topics like that. But I felt it was the right thing to do.”
The public statement wasn’t something Hawkins did on a whim. He spent the night before that game thinking about what that T-shirt would mean to those on both sides of the issue. He thought about the fears he has for his own son’s future and the responsibilities of raising a young man in today’s social climate. The gravity of the decision brought him to tears.
“Because I understood what it meant,” he said. “And I was in turmoil over deciding whether I was going to do it. It was stressful.”
The shirt, and his decision to wear it, drew some criticism, most publicly from Cleveland’s police union president, who demanded an apology, calling the move “pathetic” and stating that athletes “should stick to what they know best on the field.” The Browns backed up Hawkins, and the police union didn’t get its mea culpa.
“I’m at peace with my decision,” Hawkins said. “I didn’t like that it was portrayed as me against the police. I love the police. I need the police. When something goes wrong, they’re the first people I call. That’s what I’ve been taught. That’s what I teach my son.”
Hawkins was raised to have a social conscience, and he’s like to pass that awareness on to his children.
“As Americans in this country, if you see something you believe in you have the right to stand up,” he said. “That’s what this country’s about.”
