Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Addresses Jerry Jones Photo with Two Powerful Words
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has addressed a social media controversy regarding the owner of his team, Jerry Jones.
Prescott spoke with the news media Thursday regarding a photo of Jones standing with a group of white students blocking their black classmates from attending class at North Little Rock High School in 1957.
The public school system in Little Rock, Arkansas, was desegregated that year.
“Obviously we can be more empathetic and give grace to one another, regardless of race,” Prescott said of the controversy, according to USA Today‘s Chris Bumbaca.
“From the times we’ve come from to where we are now, thinking about the growth we’ve had.”
It didn’t escape Prescott that the photo was taken 65 years ago, when attitudes regarding race were substantially different than they are today.
“I mean, look at the man’s resumé since then, right?” Prescott said of Jones, according to Yahoo.
Dak Prescott talked about race today after he was asked about LeBron James’ comments in regards to the 1957 photo of Jerry Jones in front of North Little Rock HS when Black students attempted to desegregate the school: pic.twitter.com/xWung2X1La
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) December 1, 2022
“As I said, give grace.”
Prescott, who is biracial, pointed to his own heritage in reacting to the photo.
“As a guy who is completely biracial, black and white, it’s easy for me to speak on race on one side or another.”
Critics of Jones seized upon the photo to claim that the businessman was racist in his ownership of the Cowboys.
David Maraniss and I did a deep dive on Jerry Jones, who was on the steps of his Little Rock high school for an explosive encounter during the school-segregation strife of 1957: https://t.co/JFtF5MkVJC
— sallyjenkinswashpost (@sallyjenkinswa1) November 23, 2022
Jones rejected any insinuation that he was watching the events in the picture as a supporter of school segregation.
Instead, the businessman and longtime Cowboys owner said he was present as “a curious thing,” according to the Hill.
“Nobody there had any idea, frankly, what was going to take place. You didn’t have all the last 70 years of reference and all the things that were going,” Jones said of the moment in history, in which he was 14 years old.
“I’m sure glad that we’re a long way from that,” Jones said of the 1957 photo. “I am.”
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