Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Harry Shipp took to social media on Thursday to share his thoughts on the past few weeks in a long, well-written post.
He begins his message by saying "I started writing something 50 different times over the past few weeks and have found it impossible to capture my emotions with words."
Acknowledging he grew up in an overwhelmingly white community in the Chicago suburbs before attending the University of Notre Dame, Shipp writes "I was always taught (and trusted) that the police would keep me safe if I found myself in a threatening position."
Over the past week, Shipp has felt a range of emotions that has led to guilt.
He adds: "If I'm feeling heavy, how do you even begin to fathom the heaviness felt by Black families having to endure centuries of injustice?"
Shipp has taken time over the past week to reflect on myriad issues, ranging from police brutality to mass incarceration to healthcare... "Those things all feed off of each other in a permanent loop of systematic marginalization."
Shipp addresses Colin Kaepernick's protest from 2016, which he agreed with, but also admits regret in not publicly supporting him. He expresses concern that by being able to identify yourself as not racist, you're also escaping "feelings of culpability."
"Racism won't be solved in the next few years, but we can't let that fact paralyze us from tackling some of the implicit bias' in our own lives," Shipp writes.
There is a series of steps we can all take, according to Shipp.
Listen. Learn. Vote. Apply pressure for changes in legislation or policy. Have empathy.
He writes that "everyone is in a different position to help bring change," but what's most important is that everyone, as a collective, tries.
Shipp ends his post with a promise.
"I am committed to using my platform to speak up in the future -- bearing the responsibility of holding our society accountable. As a White person, this is our problem to fix. They need our help. Today. Tomorrow. Until we live in a just society."
You can read the full post HERE.
