They laid flowers to mourn and to remember.
On the same day the world paid its final respects to George Floyd, more than a dozen members of the Cleveland Browns’ front office gathered to reflect on another life tragically cut short by police.
The life of Tamir Rice.
The group — which included head coach Kevin Stefanski, general manager Andrew Berry and executive vice president JW Johnson — spent almost an hour on June 9 visiting the Cleveland park where Rice, 12, was gunned down in November 2014. And as they stood together that Tuesday morning, they recalled where they were the moment they heard that a young Black boy, who had been throwing snowballs and playing with a toy pellet gun, was fatally shot by police within seconds of a squad car arriving on scene.
Five and a half years later, the same types of killings are occurring across America.
Five and a half years later, the same inequities of being Black in America still exist.
And in the wake of the recent killing of Floyd by Minneapolis police, Berry issued a challenge to the Browns organization.
Berry, the NFL’s youngest GM at 33, sat in front of his computer on the evening of June 4, typing out his thoughts as best he could. He contemplated everything he had seen taking place around the world.
Images of death. Feelings of despair. The destruction of property. The loss of innocence.
But the more Berry wrote, the more he erased. The words had to be just right. The message had to be clear.
Within a few hours, Berry had woven together nearly 800 words of heartfelt emotion, unfiltered insight into being a father of two young Black sons. A challenge, too.
He pledged to donate $8,460 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund — in honor of Floyd and other recent victims of racial violence, including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and David McAtee — if at least 50 Browns employees would do one of three things:
Although the organization has done plenty, it’s determined to do more.
Players were given the day off on June 9, but Stefanski instructed them to do something good in the community to honor Floyd, whose private funeral was held the same day in Houston. Meanwhile, Stefanski, Berry and other front-office staffers visited the site where Rice was killed.
