Clemson’s Dabo Swinney speaks out about George Floyd’s death. Here’s what he said
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney joined other coaches from around the country in speaking out against racism during a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon.
Swinney spoke for the first time since George Floyd was killed last week in Minnesota.
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence used social media last week to share comments on the issue before. Here is what Swinney said Monday:
“Certainly could’ve just put out a statement but I really just felt like I wanted to express myself properly.
I know that we are all hurting for the Floyd family and our country. I can speak for our entire staff and our entire team in that regard, for sure. We have all witnessed just disgusting acts of evil. That’s really the only word I can appropriately use over the past recent week here and beyond.
To address it for me, to really be able to address it, everything for me goes back to my faith. That’s where I teach from. That’s where I draw my hope from. That’s where I draw my perspective from.
But what I know as I approach everything from a perspective of faith is that when there are people, there’s gonna be hate. There’s gonna be racism and greed and jealousy and crime and so on, because we live in a sinful, fallen world.
We’ve had so much bad news. Everywhere you turn there’s bad news. But really today, I just wanted to take a moment and offer some good news. For me, the good news is that we have a Lord that loves us all and that has conquered already.
We all have a choice as to how we think, how we love, how we respond and how we forgive. There’s no question that these are challenging times, but what I’ve learned is that when there is no challenge there is no change. And we have to all accept the challenge and all help to bring about positive change and growth.
As I talked to our staff this morning, the soil is fertile. And the feeds of this soil have changed, if you will — our love, our respect, our attitude, kindness, humility, service, faith and forgiveness. And you know what, forgiveness is always the hardest. Forgiveness is something that I’ve struggled with in my life in my teens and early twenties. And eventually I was the one being hurt because that forgiveness just eats at you.
If you take the word ‘faith,’ I can thank Todd Bates for this, if you take that word ‘faith’ and you make it into an acronym, forgiveness always is the hardest. And it is. But love, respect, attitude, kindness, humility, service, faith and forgiveness: These are the choices that we control. We do control those choices.
And there are three truths right now for sure for this time. This is another thing coach Bates and I were talking about and I agree: Love doesn’t see color, hate does. Hatred has no heart, love does. Football teams and just people in general, we’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to respect each other and we’ve got to accept the differences that do exist. For me, my focus is my team and this staff. And my prayer is that God will continue to, as he has for the last 11.5 years, that God will continue to use our program at Clemson to develop, to shape, to equip, to educate and to raise up great men through the game of football, that are going to go on into this world as great leaders. And create wonderful change and bring love and wisdom to our country. That’s my passion. That’s our why and that’s my focus.
There is no hope for a better yesterday. There’s no hope for a better last week. There’s no hope for a better last year. There just isn’t. But one of the verses in the Bible that I’ve always held onto for a long, long time, that’s always comforted me when I needed it, and that’s Jeremiah 29:11. And that verse says, ‘For I know the plans I have for you, they’re plans for good not disaster. Plans to give you a future and a hope’ … and while there may be no hope for a better yesterday, there is hope in the future. And when there’s hope in the future there’s power in the present. And that power for me comes from my faith. Comes from the strength and the peace of knowing that Jesus is on the throne. And that’s really all I can say. That’s the only thing I can offer is my perspective of faith and hope that that can be an encouragement.
Our team is hurting. I communicated with them last week. Our staff is amazing. We absolutely, absolutely, absolutely must come together. So I just wanted to share that and take a minute to let you hear that from me and make sure I articulated that the right way.”
You mentioned wanting to come out and say something instead of just releasing a statement. Why do you feel like it’s important to have your voice heard and have you heard from players that have said they would like for you to say something?
“Well, I’ve communicated with my players. I’ve had good conversations with several of those guys and our team’s great. But no, there was nobody on the team that wanted me to (say something). They all knew I was going to say something.
Just sometimes it’s better to listen than speak. It’s not about trying to speak first or something like that. I spent the last week listening and had a great staff meeting this morning and we have just wonderful people on our staff. I know that and in moments like this it just confirms that. But again, it wasn’t a matter of if I was going to say something. It was a matter of when.
I mean, I’m not on social media. And I’m not going to join Twitter just to make a statement on something. Yeah, I can just release a statement any time, but I really wanted to speak, and I wanted you guys to hear my voice. And I wanted to give y’all an opportunity to ask questions. So again, I try to always be honest and open and transparent and all those types of things.
And I know when I speak I get criticized and when I don’t speak I get criticized. So I don’t really worry about that. It’s just more making sure that I have my thoughts in a way that I think can be constructive.”
