Penn State's C.J. Thorpe sends peaceful, but powerful, message during State College rally

At 6-foot-3, 328 pounds, C.J. Thorpe has no trouble making his presence known on the football field.

But in front of a crowd of hundreds Sunday in State College, the Penn State senior offensive lineman made an impact in another way: using his words and thoughts in an effort to make a difference.

Speaking without notes, but with obvious passion, Thorpe, a Central Catholic graduate from Glenshaw, grabbed a microphone at a peaceful “Justice for George Floyd” rally at the state municipal building. His aim was to draw attention to racial inequality.

While Thorpe spoke, some in the crowd shouted “Amen” and “United we stand.” His nearly four-minute speech was repeatedly interrupted with cheers and applause.

“Those of you who are here today,” Thorpe said, “and are scared thinking that the police might attack you, that the police might pepper spray you, that the police might go up and do something whenever you are just here peacefully, you are understanding what it’s like to be black in America. We are sick and tired of being scared for our lives. We are sick and tired of having to teach our brothers to be smarter than the policeman who was trained for this job.

“I want all of you to understand. We are born in our skin color, OK. We are proud of our skin color because of what we have (gone) through, because we have got to this point through adversity through 300 years of slavery. Slavery … that has still not ended. Get educated because this is a lot bigger than it is right now, I promise you.”

When contacted Tuesday morning, Thorpe’s coach at Central Catholic, Terry Totten, said he had not heard the speech, but he was not surprised by what he said.

“He was a great leader for us, both as an example and as an inspiration,” Totten said of his four-year letterman and captain. “He comes from a very good family, and there are a lot of very good qualities in him. Therefore, I would imagine his speech was incredibly inspirational.”

Totten said Thorpe’s speeches in front of the Central Catholic team were “always on point of what task was ahead of our football team.”

“He practiced extremely hard. He lifted weights extremely hard,” Totten said. “Very encouraging to other players, sometimes younger players, most often smaller players. He was a go-to guy.

“When your leaders set the pace in making football very important in their lives, that sets a good tone.”

In his speech Sunday, Thorpe, who was the No. 4-ranked high school prospect in Pennsylvania in 2017, clearly stated he was not calling for violence.

“I’m calling for this right here, what we’re doing, coming together, using the power of the people,” he said. “I know it is hard to step back out of your own pride, out of your own anger, out of your own fear. But all I ask is we stay smart and we use our brain, that we use love.

“It is so important now more than ever because we have so much hatred going around. We can’t fight hate with hate, man.”

Totten expected Thorpe’s message set a proper tone.

“I can imagine he encouraged it be peaceful. He’s from a very spiritual family, good people,” he said.

“It’s that kind of leadership that we need right now in this country among young people.”