Fashion, to me, is trends - it's what other people are wearing; it's what's hot this season. I'm not as interested in that. Style, to me, is personal. Style is what each individual has.
— Malcolm Jenkins
I could easily vote for things that benefit me taxwise, but the rest of my family is not in this tax bracket. So when I vote, I try to keep in mind my family and my community and what I think is best for the nation as a whole.
Our biggest thing is, any player who's protesting will tell you that the only reason we use the anthem is because it's a platform like no other. We use it to draw attention to other issues. We've heard from many people, 'Use a different venue. Use a different platform.' Quite frankly, this is the most effective one.
I'm learning the process of changing things. I'm not really sure where this is going to take me. But I know what I want before my career is over: I want people to remember me as someone other than a guy who just tackled people.
The people who have been unjustly disenfranchised by our criminal justice system and the people who daily fight for them always have, and always will be, the inspiration and focus of my efforts.
I'm about creating positive change in the communities that I come from.
Oftentimes, even myself as I've come through my entire career from high school all the way up here, everything has been football, football, football. And then you realize that life is much bigger than this game, especially when you start thinking about life after football and what you want to leave behind.
We are demanding police transparency and accountability so we can build trust and work together to make our communities safer.
When I look at our communities, our country, our justice system, those are things I want to change and I'm committed to changing, and that's going to take sacrifice. Laying the foundation is the hardest part and requires a lot of sacrifice and time.
I remember my dad always complaining about getting pulled over. I remember the differences in school systems. I remember seeing police officers, not knowing their names, and knowing that they were there not to protect us, not to serve us, but to watch us.
The crime bill basically incentivized the prison system. There were quotas, mandatory minimums. You have to serve 85 percent of your time, so it is guaranteeing that bodies will always be locked up. And that went mostly towards minority communities and poor communities, where crime is more rampant.
I think when you have a group of guys that care about the community, the city, care about each other, it just makes for a unique locker room.
My goal is to use football as a platform to speak out on things that need addressing.
I want to see changes in our criminal justice system.
I'd already been doing work in the community... But when it comes to how to actually amplify your voice, when I saw what Colin Kaepernick did and the amount of coverage and conversation around it, that's when I truly realized how much influence we have as athletes.
We are fighting to pass clean-slate legislation in Pennsylvania to seal nonviolent misdemeanor records automatically after 10 years. We must provide opportunities for employment, housing, education, loans, and voting. We should not disenfranchise a third of the population.
Communities of color have also had to watch video after video of unarmed black men and women being handled without regard for their lives or well-being. As a black man, I see these images, and I see myself; I wonder whether this will happen to me or one of my loved ones.
Everyone loses when voices get stifled.
Trump started talking about bringing back stop-and-frisk, which was ruled unconstitutional. And as a black man, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. That you will basically pass laws to say that I can be profiled, and it is legal.
For Obama, there was just a lot of enthusiasm in the minority communities to get out and vote. Everybody felt like their vote mattered.
I want to be remembered as someone that used football to raise awareness.
I get hate mail. I get bad mail. People say they will boycott you or the team.
I want to see us push for economical and educational advancement in communities of color and low-income communities, and I want to see our relationships between our communities and our law enforcement be advanced.
I didn't realize that the platform could be this big until Colin Kaepernick first took a knee. When he did that, that was kind of an 'aha' moment for me.
True patriotism is loving your country and countrymen enough to want to make it better.
We're kind of coached to stay away from touchy subjects just because of the arena that we're in.
