Chicago Bears running back Matt Forte, in a recent interview, made a powerful statement about Chicago’s violence issue.
Speaking on ESPN’s “The Dan LeBatard Show,” Forte, who has a degree in finance, talked little about football, and more about his role as a financial mentor for younger players and his views on issues plaguing the city.
When asked, “What would Matt Forte say is the biggest problem facing the youth of Chicago”, Forte answered from experience, having been very active in many of the city’s “desolated” neighborhoods.
“They just don’t have a lot of resources, especially in some of these neighborhoods where, you know, like after school there’s not much for them to do except get in trouble. There’s not a lot of youth centers or, there’s really, not any at all in some of the neighborhoods where they could go and maybe get tutoring or just get help on extra things,” he said. “You know, there’s a lot of gun violence that goes on in Chicago’s neighborhoods. I think that happens because educationally, there’s not a lot of value put on education. It’s more, you know, different things, and it comes from different influences as well—other people or they may have family members who may be in gangs or listening to rap music that talks about shooting people and stuff like that. So, it comes from a lot of different influences.”
He went on to say that using the NFL platform can help make a difference in some of these communities.
“I think as NFL players we ought to use it for good,” he said. “I use mine to obviously give back to the youth around Chicago and around other places too.”
Listen to the full interview here.
