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Michigan football's Kwity Paye sounds off on police brutality: Being black 'seen as illegal'

Stefan Perez, 16, of Detroit helped lead a peaceful march through Detroit on Monday, June 1, 2020, then shared a phone call with Mayor MIke Duggan. Detroit Free Press

The Michigan football defensive end has never been afraid to speak up and express his beliefs. In a conversation Tuesday afternoon with the Free Press, Paye addressed his feelings of frustration and anger since the death of George Floyd.

"Being a black man in this country is seen as illegal," he said. "People suspect the worst.”

Paye, the son of an immigrant who escaped war-torn Liberia, was filled with sadness when he learned about Floyd, a 46-year-old black man in Minneapolis who died May 25 while handcuffed by police.