Jonathan Casillas hopes he can remain in the NFL a few more years, four or five if he is lucky. When his career is over, he will be a former NFL player.
“But at the end of the day,’’ he said, “I’m still gonna be a black man in America.’’
It is for this reason, Casillas said, he is so passionate about what is going on in society with young African-Americans, with what he sees as injustice in the criminal justice system, with how pained he is to hear divisive rhetoric from the president of the United States, with how disgusted he was to hear President Trump declare NFL owners should fire “son of a bitch’’ players who kneel for the national anthem.