Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield offers thoughtful take on racial violence

“You aren’t born hating anybody. You have no opinions when you’re born. Somewhere along the line, racism is taught. That is where the problem lies. The people that are taught to discriminate and hate another race, have most likely never been around people of different culture. Those people have never even given the others a chance because they are too close minded and fixed on the ideas they were taught from a young age. It’s 2015, wake up, give people a chance and realize we all live in the same country. You don’t have to like the same things and enjoy doing the same activities, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be friendly. And if for some strange reason you can’t be friendly, keep your mouth shut and keep to yourself."

“I have now been in 2 different locker rooms with over 210 teammates combined, not one person in either of them have come from the same background… But they work perfectly fine, you know why? Because we have common goals. That’s why people need to have the larger picture/common goal of ending Racial Violence. If you don’t want to contribute to ending the cause, that’s fine, just don’t do anything to harm the ones who are pulling people together.”