Cardinals players meet with Gov. Doug Ducey, talk criminal justice reform
Sep 12, 2018, 3:37 PM
(Twitter/@dougducey)
(Twitter/@dougducey)
TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona Cardinals players and team president Michael Bidwill met with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to discuss criminal justice reform and the athletes’ place in helping create a dialog for change.
Ducey released photos of Corey Peters, Antoine Bethea and Tre Boston joining with state leaders Tuesday as they discussed issues of inequality.
“I think it was a really good dialog for the group,” Bethea said after Cardinals practice Wednesday. “I think we all smart here. We all know what the issue is … we all know there is inequalities in this world.
“We were able to sit there and talk about those problems yesterday.”
Grateful for a productive conversation with @AZCardinals players @TreBos10, @ABethea41 & @CoreyPeters91 on criminal justice reform. We will continue to build on #AZ’s efforts to reduce the prison population, offer job training to released offenders & provide a real second chance. pic.twitter.com/qwpPxRGwhW
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) September 12, 2018
Boston, who signed with Arizona this offseason, said he’s anxious to begin helping his new community. He is passionate about criminal justice reform, partially because his mother was in law enforcement for more than 20 years.
“How can we help people coming out (of prison), get them jobs?” Boston said. “If they’re truly good people, people who have kids, who have families they want to provide for, if they did their time, let’s get them involved where we can place them into a system to get back into their feet.”
Boston said that the discussion with Ducey went beyond criminal justice reform.
The parties touched on how NFL players can help combat inequality, which has been a hot topic in the NFL since Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, began kneeling during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality.
“Learning what they need from us as the athletes, where do we need to go to?” Boston said. “If we can attack our youth now, our future will be bright.”
