After protests turned violent in Charlottesville, VA on Saturday, Chicago Bears offensive lineman Kyle Long spoke out on the situation in his hometown.
Long, who moved to Charlottesville when he was five years old, spoke after the Bears’ practice at training camp on Sunday, saying that those who perpetrated the violent acts at a white nationalist rally in Virginia were “blatantly in the wrong.”
“Injustice in the world we live in is a threat to the freedoms we have,” he said. “It’s a small percentage of people involved who are blatantly in the wrong, and we need to do our best as good folks to continue to outnumber them and express our opinions and act accordingly when given the opportunity to.
“My prayers go to families who have lost folks and who are going through (this),” he added.
One woman was killed when a car drove through a crowd of counter-protesters on Saturday, and two Virginia state police officers were killed when their helicopter crashed just miles from the city.
“It’s a quiet town, the loudest it gets is on Saturday’s at Scott Stadium,” Long said. “It was shocking to see that. There’s bad things that happen all the time, and like I said, my prayers are with those involved, and hopefully we can continue to do the right thing.”
Long’s brother Chris spoke out forcefully about the violence on Twitter, criticizing President Donald Trump’s response to the acts:
When asked about his brother’s forceful rebuttal of the president, Long steered clear of criticizing anyone, but praised his brother for being candid about his feelings.
“Chris does a really good job of articulating his views, whether socially or politically,” he said. “I try to stay out of this stuff, but the one thing I can say is that Charlottesville families who were affected are in our thoughts and prayers.
