Antwon Rose Jr.’s mother sees ‘common ground’ with Steelers’ Maurkice Pouncey, Alejandro Villanueva

When Michelle Kenney read Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s Instagram post in which he indicated he would remove her son’s name from his football helmet, she initially was offended and disappointed.

“But when I read to the bottom of it,” said Kenney, the mother of Antwon Rose Jr., “I was a little more optimistic because I said, ‘It seems like we have some things in common.’ We want to work toward this being a better community, and obviously he thinks that policing is an issue.

“Even though we don’t share the same (point of view), I believe that together, we’d be a better force.”

During a Thursday evening phone interview, Kenney offered a more conciliatory tone toward Steelers players whose actions over the previous 72 hours had angered her. Days earlier, coach Mike Tomlin called Kenney to tell her that the entire roster of players voted to wear helmets throughout the entire season with the name of her son on the back.

ICYMI: “The Pittsburgh Steelers took a team vote. Obviously, one person didn’t like the results, so they chose to do something different,” Michelle Kenney, the mother of Antwon Rose Jr., wrote in a Tuesday Facebook post. https://t.co/h5KrEQQJ1O

— TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) September 16, 2020

But then, tackle and former Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva had not Rose’s name but that of deceased Army sergeant Alwyn Cashe on his helmet during Monday’s season opener. The next day, Tomlin said Villanueva had discussed the change with him.

By Wednesday, veteran linebacker Vince Williams publicly said there was no vote and he did not even know whose name was going to be on his helmet. And then came the Thursday Instagram post in which Pouncey sought to “clarify” to law enforcement that he was “unaware of the whole story surrounding (Rose’s) death” and would be “making my own decision about who to wear on the back of my helmet.”

“I personally was offended by that,” Kenney said, “(and) not because he was a supporter of law enforcement. It was because he assumed that I wasn’t.

“I always say I am not an advocate for defunding the police. I am actually an advocate for law enforcement — I just want to change the way we do policing in the state of Pennsylvania.”

Pouncey is an ardent supporter of causes related to police. Rose, 17, died in 2018 after being shot in the back three times by East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld. Pouncey wrote he “was given limited information” about the encounter between Rosfeld — who was acquitted last year — and two others.

The Steelers left out details of the case when the team honored Rose.

Rose was a passenger in a vehicle that had been pulled over because it had been involved in a drive-by shooting minutes earlier in North Braddock. Another teen, Zaijuan Hester, later pleaded guilty to being the shooter. Surveillance video from the drive-by shooting showed Hester firing shots from the back seat of a gold Chevy Cruze.

The back of the helmets the Pittsburgh Steelers wear throughout the 2020 season will bear the name of Antwon Rose Jr.https://t.co/aZa8MmgtWv

— TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) September 14, 2020

Neither Pouncey nor Villanueva has spoken to media this week.

“Mostly, I was just wondering why none of these individuals even attempted to talk to me or ask me what I thought or find out about Antwon other than what the negative press (and) negative people are saying,” Kenney said.

“They didn’t know (Rose).”

Kenney said that aside from a community-relations representative, no one from the Steelers has communicated with her since Tomlin’s call before the season began.

Kenney also made it clear she definitively was told that the team’s players had voted to honor her son and that every player would wear his name on their helmets for the entire season.

“I was in disbelief,” she said, “so I asked the question three times to make sure that I was hearing it properly.”

But Thursday, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said the decision of using Rose’s name “came from upstairs” (the front office and/or coaching staff), indicating there was no player vote.

Kenney emphasized “it would have been 100% OK with me” if Villanueva had asked her if he could honor Cashe, a sergeant 1st class who died of burns after an IED explosion in Iraq. Cashe, who’s Black, received the Silver Star for valor because his selfless actions after the explosion saved the lives of six soldiers. He is in line to receive a Medal of Honor.

“And let me be very clear: the color of the individual’s skin wouldn’t have mattered to me, either,” Kenney said. “I believe in freedom of choice, and he could have represented anybody that he wanted to. It wasn’t what he did; it was how he did it.

“Personally, I don’t feel like the public (or) media give the veterans or (active military) the respect they deserve. … It was never, for me, a competition or me being upset about him choosing to replace Antwon’s name.”

#Steelers Alejandro Villanueva is being both criticized and praised for taping the name Alwyn Cashe on the back of his helmet for Monday night’s game. https://t.co/L5MpEblpZX

— TribLIVE.com (@TribLIVE) September 16, 2020

Kenney has devoted her life to advocating for policing reforms, and when Tomlin told her the Steelers were committed to helping in that, “(Rose’s) name on the helmet was just a bonus.”

“The Steelers are an entity that have the financial resources and the backing to push on with the movement,” Kenney said. “They represent the city of Pittsburgh, and I am fighting for those in the state of Pennsylvania. I think it’s a perfect match. I don’t know how it went to negativity.”

Still, with time for reflection, Kenney strives to use the choices by Pouncey and Villanueva as a pivot point. She said she would welcome a conversation with either of them because she doesn’t view the helmet situation as a disagreement with either about the issues she cares about.

“I’m not trying to criticize the police, I don’t think all police are bad, I’m not anti-police,” Kenney said. “I just want them to have some accountability and to be better at policing the communities that they serve. That’s all. It’s really just that simple.”

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