Bears' Ziggy Hood: Mizzou students 'did it the right way'

SHARE Bears' Ziggy Hood: Mizzou students 'did it the right way'
ILLINOIS_ST_MISSOURI_FOOTBALL_7433337.jpg

Former Missouri defensive lineman Ziggy Hood, now with the Bears, praised peaceful campus protests. (AP)

Saying that Missouri students “did it the right way,” former Tigers football player Ziggy Hood praised the peaceful protests that resulted in the resignation of the chancellor and president amid claims of racial inequality on campus.

The football team threatened not to play before president Tim Wolfe resigned Monday.

“After seeing the whole news and everything play out, it was kinda good to see that unfold,” said Hood, a defensive lineman signed by the Bears last month to replace Jeremiah Ratliff. “I’m not going to say it’s a black thing, but it’s a whole race thing, and the entire student body, including athletes, they did it the right way.

“They did it how you’re supposed to. If you have an issue, stand up for it, but it didn’t turn ugly. It didn’t turn violent. It was peaceful. That’s what you’re supposed to do.

“And when you do it peaceful like that, there’s a whole collective — everybody stood behind it, and they had things move around.”

Share Events on The CubeHood, one of 20 Missouri alums in the NFL, said he never felt direct discrimination on campus before being drafted in the first round in 2009.

“Me personally, never had to deal with anything like that,” he said. “But I heard stories from regular people in the regular student body.”

Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com

The Latest
Matt Mullady is known as a Kankakee River expert and former guide, but he has a very important artistic side, too.
When push comes to shove, what the vast majority really want is something like what happened in Congress last week — bipartisan cooperation and a functioning government.
Chicago Realtors said the settlement over broker commissions may not have an immediate impact, but homebuyers and sellers have been asking questions about what it will mean for them.
Chicago’s climate lawsuit won’t curb greenhouse gas emissions or curb the effects of climate change. Innovation and smart public policies are what is needed.
Reader still hopes to make the relationship work as she watches her man fall for someone else under her own roof.