Black former Iowa football players are speaking out against the vandalism of Kinnick Stadium and the statue of the 1939 Heisman Trophy winner, saying that vandals are missing the larger point.
“This isn’t what we’re trying to promote,” Jaleel Johnson wrote on Twitter, a message retweeted by longtime NFL defensive tackle and former Hawkeye Mike Daniels. “We want change in a community we consider to be our home. Not to be vandalized by outsiders.”
Johnson, a former Hawkeye defensive tackle who plays for the Minnesota Vikings, was one of the strongest voices to speak up against what dozens of former players have described as a culture of racism within the Hawkeye program.