James Conner speaks of ‘togetherness, unity,’ says Steelers en masse discuss George Floyd

Running back James Conner was the first Pittsburgh Steelers player available to speak with media since the nation has been canvassed with protests over the past week. Asked if any team meetings had discussed last week’s death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police Department officer, Conner said “we definitely talked about it.”

Tuesday was the first day of Week 2 of organized team activities. All NFL offseason work is being done remotely over video calls out of concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t feel as if my place to talk for the whole organization, but we definitely know and feel what’s going on,” Conner said during a video conference call with media Tuesday. “We’re impacted by it. I can just speak for myself (but) I know a lot of the guys feel the same way — that change needs to be done, and it needs to be done quick. But we definitely talked about things.”

Conner has been active on his social media platforms in recent days, often using it to relay discussion about police brutality or social injustice. Many of the posts to his verified Twitter account on Monday preached positivity.

Make the twitter timeline full of positivity! Like I said I’ve been guilty of retweeting negative content but that’s not it. They want the sickening/shameless videos at 100k+ retweets to keep us divided. Make unity and togetherness the only content we see ??

— James Conner (@JamesConner_) June 1, 2020

“We need change, but I think it starts with, as cliché as it sounds, it starts with hope,” Conner said during the media call. “And the new, younger generation coming up, it’s on us and on young parents — I am not a parent — to teach their kids about unity and togetherness and how we’re stronger together. So, really I have been trying to use my platforms to spread that, just try to touch on that.”

Conner is a former star at Pitt who went to high school in Erie and is entering his fourth season with the Steelers. Multiple times Tuesday in speaking with media, he stressed that dialogue and communication were important.

James Conner’s thoughts - he just wants to promote unity pic.twitter.com/FsOZrVT42C

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) June 2, 2020

“A couple close friends of mine, they reached out,” Conner said. “People maybe who aren’t black, who don’t understand what it’s like, I think maybe the best thing they can do is reach out to their black friends and let them know how they feel, keep that relationship because we want to stand together and not get divided, and relationships could be different, but we can’t let them. We have to stay together, so I think you just reach out, and I have had friends reach out to me — and that means a lot.”

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