On Monday, less than 24 hours before a contingency of Philadelphia Eagles was scheduled to visit President Donald Trump at the White House to celebrate the team’s Super Bowl LII victory, that visit was shockingly canceled by President Trump.
After taking time to reflect on this, one of the team’s most outspoken and active off-field leaders, Malcolm Jenkins, has issued a thoughtful response in which he doesn’t address the President by name, but rather focuses on what he, his teammates and their peers across the NFL have their focus on going forward.
While he did not address President Trump directly, Jenkins did address the perception that the Eagles disrespected the flag, which was a key aspect of President Trump’s statement on Monday.
“Simply google: ‘How many Philadelphia Eagles knelt during the national anthem last season?’ and you find that the answer is zero,” Jenkins wrote. “A similar google search will show you how many great things the players on this team are doing and continue to do on a daily basis. Instead, the decision was made to lie, and paint the picture that these players are anti-American, anti-flag and anti-military”
Jenkins closes with, “We will continue to fight for impacted citizens and give a voice to those who never had one.”
Here’s Jenkins’ statement in its entirety.
#TheFightContinues pic.twitter.com/QWDdvZgQNL
— Malcolm Jenkins (@MalcolmJenkins) June 5, 2018