Odenigbo didn’t wake up May 31 planning to march in Chicago, where the Vikings’ fourth-year defensive end attended Northwestern, but he wanted to take action just six days after George Floyd was killed while in Minneapolis police custody. Odenigbo quickly found himself in a crowd of strangers unaware that an NFL player was walking with them.
“I just quietly joined in and didn’t say a word,” he said. “Marched with them for a good two miles.”
Speaking up is what Odenigbo, the first member of his Nigerian family born in the United States, encourages most in the fight against police brutality and social injustice.