Earlier this week Dallas Cowboys star wide receiver Dez Bryant wrote a series of posts on Instagram in which he expressed his feelings on racism in America and shared a story from his personal life about why it's important for black Americans, specifically those in the public eye, to lead by example.
Bryant's comments, which you can read below, also preached individual accountability to be better as a whole which struck a chord with former NFL tight end and current co-host of Fox Sports 1's "Undisuputed," Shannon Sharpe.
Sharpe addressed Bryant's comments on racism at length during yesterday's show, saying Dez "hasn’t read up enough on the race relationship and the history of racism in America."
"I think Dez’s heart was in a good place, but because he hasn’t read up enough on the race relationship and the history of racism in America, it came out totally wrong... Dez, when you say personal accountability—okay, so I’m supposed to hold me accountable for slavery? What about Reconstruction? What about the Jim Crow South? What about segregation? What about the violation of my civil rights and my voting rights? So who do I hold accountable for that?... Dez, I can’t get ahead if someone is constantly keeping me behind."
"Dez, you’re not even the 2 percent. You’re the .01 percent of black Americans that makes millions, but there’s so many that don’t. Dez, do you realize that you’re still black, [that] they still view you as black even though you catch touchdowns for the Dallas Cowboys? Do you realize that? You think they view you differently? They applaud what you do, Dez. They don’t applaud who you are."
After hearing this criticism, Dez has since tweeted that he wants to go on the show and call Sharpe for twisting his words.
Check out the video of Shannon Sharpe's full response below, as well as Dez's original tweets and rebuttal.
