Roughriders defensive lineman speaks out against racism despite pushback from fans

Jordan Reaves has been speaking out against racism and the need for change, but he's found that many sports fans are not receptive to this.

"We're people who have an opinion, have a voice," the Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive lineman told Saskatchewan Weekend's Peter Mills. "As professional athletes we have a platform to reach a lot more people than the average person could. So I feel like it's our duty to use that platform."

Reaves is vocal on social media and he's faced a lot of backlash. "I would say for every two positive (messages), I get about five negative," he said.

It hurts even more when these vitriolic, racist responses are coming from Roughrider fans, said Reaves.

"They love us in Saskatchewan when we have our green jerseys on, but as soon as we voice our opinion about injustices toward black people, all of a sudden we turn from that Roughrider player that they love to just a black guy who needs to just put that uniform back on and know his spot in this world," Reaves said.

He's had to block some Rider fans, despite usually being "very active in the community" with them otherwise, he said.

"I'll go for lunch with some of them. I contact them regularly, interact with them whenever I have the chance."

Reaves said players are putting their physical well-being on the line every time they step on the field to entertain these fans.

"It's mind-boggling that they could support us one second and within an hour, within minutes, they could flip around and say, 'Go back to go back to being an athlete, go back to entertaining us and do your job. You have no right voicing your opinion about anything else other than sports," he said.

"We're putting our blood, sweat and tears on the field for them to enjoy and they can't even turn around and support us in our day-to-day lives outside of Roughrider football or outside of CFL football."

Players opposing racism

The sports world is currently home to an historic stand against racism. The NBA has led the way as players refused to take the court for playoff games this past week.

Teams and players in other leagues like the WNBA, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, and the NHL followed soon after.

Reaves' brother Ryan plays for the NHL's Las Vegas Golden Knights and has been at the forefront of speaking out in a league that is almost exclusively white.

Reaves said he has had long conversations with his brother on what they should do and say.

"To have his voice being heard and having the entire NHLPA and NHL backing him and all the other black players in the NHL, it's just it's such a powerful message because nobody thought the NHL would do anything," Reaves said.

"To see them stand in unity with the rest of the leagues and to stand behind my brother and hear him talk like that, you know, I'm nothing less than proud of him."

And he said Canadians shouldn't be naive to think racism is only an American problem. He said his car has been followed and searched by police, for example.

"There's racism in Canada. It's not as blatant as the States. It's not as blatant as the South. We don't have a Confederate flag flying in Canada or something like that, but it's here. Indigenous people, black people, it's been happening."

He said we all need to step up in the fight against racism.

"We are in 2020 now, right. We're not in the 1800s, we're not in the early 1900s, it is 2020. It is to me embarrassing that we're still having this talk on racism."

Reaves said most people they haven't had to deal with racism directly, but they still know it exists. Those are the people he is reaching out to so they can start having these uncomfortable conversations with their friends.

"You talk to people about it, who [normally] wouldn't be talking about it, and get them to talk to five of their friends about it. Now, we have 25 people talking about it who never would have talked about it. And now they're going to voice their opinion to five of their friends. Now we've got 125 people talking about it. You know, five again, we've got 625 people talking about who never would have even thought about speaking about this," Reaves said.

'I was just mad at the world'

Reaves said he's had a rollercoaster of emotions from the time of George Floyd's death to watching peaceful protesters being tear gassed in Washington so Donald Trump could get a photo opportunity in front of a church.

"It was anger for the first couple of months. I was just mad at the world. I was mad at humans. I was mad at us as a human race," he said.

Reaves went to rallies and protests and said he was able to slowly start channeling his energy toward trying to put out a positive message for change and to talk to people who normally wouldn't have this conversation.

"And then all of a sudden Jacob Blake happens and it's like I have nothing but anger again back in my body," he said.

Jacob Blake is a Black man who was paralyzed after a Kenosha, Wis., police officer shot him in the back earlier this week.

"I'm working on it. I'm trying not to be as angry and, you know, put it for good. But it's hard not to be angry with these kinds of situations," Reave said.

He hopes what all these athletes in the different leagues will help get conversations started with groups that normally wouldn't be having this talk.

"I just really hope we get some change soon, because this is not how I want my kids to grow up, in a world like this."