SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Arik Armstead sat down at the podium and had a message before he would answer any questions about playing defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers.
Armstead gave a brief speech about hate crimes, challenging people to take steps to reduce prejudice against various minority groups. A week later, Armstead highlighted the issue of education inequality and how schools with higher percentage of Black and Latino students get less funding per capita than schools with predominantly white students.
Armstead is using his weekly media sessions to get across messages he wants to deliver, saying he will highlight one social justice issue that he has been studying each time before taking questions from the media.