Jump to content

  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

Josh Norman heads to border to help Immigrant Children

Paa Langfart

By Paa Langfart,
in Carolina Panthers

Recommended Posts

Paa Langfart Grand Master

Paa Langfart

Posted
Posted
Quote

The Lord moved him at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday, as Josh Norman tells it, so the Washington Redskins cornerback acted.

Norman can’t even remember why he was awake in the wee hours of June 20. But he saw reports that more than 2,000 children had been separated from their parents while detained under the since-abandoned “zero-tolerance” policy for families caught illegally crossing the United States’ southwestern border.

“Put yourself in somebody else’s shoes,” Norman told USA TODAY Sports. “They’ve got nothing, come here seeking asylum, know nothing of where they’re going to, other than that it’s gotta be better than where they were. Then you get to this place, and they treat you like less than a dog. We’ve lost our touch as a humanity. This is about the kids. So, I never hesitated when the Lord said go.”

Norman texted Lauren Phillips, who helps him coordinate charitable work. He wanted to go to Texas the next day to help, but Phillips told him she needed time to identify the right organization.

She soon zeroed in on Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) Texas, a non-profit in San Antonio.

RAICES Texas workers encounter dozens of children a day who are bussed from detention centers to temporary shelters, according to communications director Jennifer Falcon. By this point, the children who had been reunited with a parent and the RAICES Texas staffers try to help them understand the legal process and next steps. Then, the families depart on bus rides to destinations in the U.S. where family members and friends already reside.

This information further tugged Norman’s heartstrings.

“About a week ago, his people reached out,” Falcon told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. “Then we got a text two days ago that Josh had already bought his ticket and was coming down. And we’re so glad that he did just come.”

Norman enlisted the serves of longtime friend and New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis. Both are members of the Players Coalition, which supports social justice causes. Norman also donated $100,000 to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico last year, and Davis runs children’s outreaches in Jackson, Miss.

Davis had recently told his wife, Tamela, of his frustrations over the treatment of immigrants.

“She said, ‘If you feel strongly about it, find a way to do something about it,’” Davis told USA TODAY Sports. “She really encouraged me. So, when I got the call from Josh, we went.”

The trip came at a time when NFL players find themselves in their final weeks of vacation before they report to training camp in July. But the needs of the children released from the detention centers superseded all else.

Norman and Davis landed in San Antonio this past Tuesday night and went straight from the airport to a Wal-Mart. From 11:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., the two crammed six shopping carts full of toiletries, snacks, water, juice, blankets, coloring books, markers, pencils, crayons, toys, soccer balls and backpacks.

But upon checkout, Norman and Davis realized their hotel room wouldn’t hold all of the supplies. So, they sat in the parking lot and stuffed backpacks, loaded them into their truck, went to the hotel for a quick nap and met RAICES Texas staffers at the bus stops where the children arrived.

“We walked into the place and you could see how broken they were,” Norman said. “So disheartened. They don’t know where they are, really. Then we brought out the bookbags and it was like flipping a light switch. You could see the darkness replaced by light and the joy.”

I wish he was still on our team.  

 

more

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/mike-jones/2018/06/28/josh-norman-demario-davis-immigrant-children-family-border/743536002/

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Paa Langfart Grand Master

Paa Langfart

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Had to post this snip from the article cause I know some folks wont click the link.

Quote

In those moments, Norman – a football player admittedly obsessed with super heroes – served as a real hero to children he’d never met and likely never will ever see again.

There, Norman and Davis performed some of the most American actions possible. Giving. Loving. Caring. Sharing.

They did it not for praise, but to encourage and inspire.

“I’m telling you it felt better than anything else I’ve ever done: to help give someone else a fighting chance,” said Norman, who flew back to the D.C. area late Wednesday night. “Someone else laid down their life for us to live in this country and have the freedoms we have. I’ve been provided such riches, and a great life, so why should I not help others? All of us have so much more than they do. Every one of us can be a hero. That’s what the U.S. is supposed to be based on. Not all this hate and division.”

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
Go to topic listing

  • PMH4OWPW7JD2TDGWZKTOYL2T3E.jpg

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • PanthersATL
      NFL admits the TMac catch should not have been overturned

      By PanthersATL · Posted

      They said there wasn't clear evidence to warrant the overturn.  How would it have made a difference at that point in the game?   https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/nfl-privately-admitted-to-erroneous-reversal-of-catch-by-panthers
    • Khyber53
      WWE pay per view and programming thread

      By Khyber53 · Posted

      Me, I'm sick of WWE channel hopping their PLEs and shows. Netflix now with Raw. USA still has Smackdown but you can't get it with Roku if you don't also have cable. Then they went from all the PLEs on Peacock to ESPN+ which required upgrading your Disney+ package. Then they frikkin' move Saturday Night Main Event with John Cena's retirement match back over to frikkin' Peacock, which we'd just cancelled two months prior because no PLEs there anymore. And there are fewer, but longer matches and its the same danged stories again and again. Rematch after rematch after rematch between PLEs. Fewer matches, fewer wrestlers, more promos (of lesser quality) and less action.  It just seems like it's all fillers and re-runs. I'm tired of Cody Rhodes. I'm tired of Jey Uso. I'm tired of the two Brons. Shuffle the deck a bit guys, this game's getting stale.
    • CPantherKing
      Going for it instead of leading by two scores in the 4th

      By CPantherKing · Posted

      Chuba was 3 yards behind the 3 gap. He was lined up weak offset I. It was a 33 dive. Chuba needed to power through off of Ekwonu's block and slip off into the 5 gap where the Tremble had the lane sealed and Rick pulled the LB out of the 5 gap. Here's a visual if you need proof. Chuba did a jump cut laterally to the 2 gap on the right side with unblocked defenders crashing down and went airborne.   This is a 33 dive that should have been slipped off the block into the 5 gap. Chuba lacked vision, but you can see Rico and Bryce staring at the intended running lane sealed off by Tremble and Ekwonu. He should have read Ekwonu's block. The blocking and misdirection is NOT set up for the right side. The play worked. Chuba failed to execute on this play. Trust who you want to, but I wouldn't suggest you argue with the video. Anyone telling you this was drawn up to go right with the blocking did not analyze it. They are correct it should have been a called dive, and it was a called dive.  This was a weak offset I bringing Tremble in motion from the right to the left.
×
×
  • Create New...