Eagles Players React to White House Snub

(6 Jun 2018) Eagles players and officials made individual decisions to not go to the White House for a scheduled celebration of their Super Bowl title, leaving two players actually planning to make the trip to Washington before the visit was canceled by President Donald Trump, according to players and a person familiar with the arrangements. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because of the sensitivity of the issues. All-Pro center Jason Kelce said players filled out forms anonymously indicating whether they wanted to go to the White House, not make the trip or go to Washington and do something else. The players did not urge a collective decision on what to do as a team, giving each player his own option of whether to take the trip. Defensive end Chris Long, who skipped the trip last year when he was with the New England Patriots and again decided early to not attend, said he hopes athletes on championship teams in all sports won't have to make the decision when Trump's term is up for re-election in 2020. "The players didn't create this division (in the country)," Long said. "I'm extremely proud to be part of this team." Safety Malcolm Jenkins, an outspoken leader for social reforms, held up handwritten signs on issues important to him and other players instead of verbally answering questions. "You aren't listening," one sign said. Another said that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick gave $1 million to charity. Kaepernick began the wave of kneeling protests in the NFL as a way to protest racism and police brutality, and is working through a grievance case against the league after he was not signed by any team following his run with San Francisco. Another sign by Jenkins read: "More than 60 percent of people in prison are people of color." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...