CJ Sapong has heard, seen and said a lot in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police.
“We’re in a position now where, clearly, I feel like the black community has been heard,” Sapong said. “Help viewers, readers, listeners, whatever, to understand that it now takes putting that into action. We live in an age where the imagery we project is usually on some sort of platform that’s outside of ourselves.
“This is a time where we’ve got to recognize that it’s going to take a sense of humility and surrender in each of us to stop covering our eyes and really kind of wake up to the systemic issue here. While the black people are the catalyst, there are still so many peoples of other classes, races, genders that essentially just cannot maximize their potential due to an infrastructure that’s been set up by people that we elect.
“We drive around scared on roads that we fund. We get pulled over by other human beings that are wearing clothes because we give portions of our hard-earned money to that. At the very least, we must hold them accountable.”
A Fire forward since 2019, Sapong has been active in the communities he has played in. In 2017, he founded Sacred Seeds, which aims “to bring income-generating resources and technology as well as nourishment to underserved communities so that they may thrive for generations to come.”
On social media, Sapong has been outspoken about the situation. He engaged in an almost hourlong discussion on Instagram with the Rapids’ Kei Kamara and has amplified messages posted by the Fire and other players.
“I absolutely give every single person on this planet, but mostly this country . . . they have forgiveness,’’ Sapong said. ‘‘I know there are a lot of people, especially in the black community, that are angry and upset and emotional. However, I think we have an opportunity to kind of start anew. Pull out the super-full cup and begin to fill it up with more facts and with an intention of educating ourselves, building better individuals, building better communities and not necessarily relying on elected officials who have shown time and time again that our interests are not theirs.”
Sapong said people and teams have to live up to the rhetoric, the media must change how it portrays this subject and society can’t totally move forward until people are educated as to how the system is set up to benefit some at the expense of others.
“What we do is continue to keep that conversation going,” Sapong said. “Now, sports are back. See how people act. Does everybody go right back into only analyzing [scores] or are we going to hold each other accountable to make sure that on all sides of the spectrum we’re not forgetting what has happened?
“It was a catalyst, but these things have been very prevalent in our country since its inception.”
