Fitzgerald: 'Our first step must be to listen to one another'

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who grew up in Minneapolis, wrote Sunday of the fervent unrest that began in his city and spread across the United States and the world in an essay for The New York Times.

After the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, protests against police brutality and racial injustice erupted across the city that Fitzgerald wrote, "taught me about love." Floyd's killing also sparked rioting that destroyed local businesses.

"What you're seeing on the news is not the hometown of my youth," Fitzgerald wrote.

Though Fitzgerald recalled that he didn't personally experience police harassment growing up in Minneapolis, the 36-year-old wrote that recent events have laid bare the systemic problems that still exist across the U.S. Those problems, he added, have precipitated desperate actions on the part of desperate people.

Fitzgerald, a former recipient of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award honoring players' charity work, condemned violent riots and called for individuals in power to heed those who have suffered injustice.

"We must work together to heal this divide and rebuild our communities by committing to let no voice go unheard," he wrote. "Our first step must be to listen to one another - to sincerely lean in and hear what the person who is different from us is saying."

Fitzgerald wrote that he's hopeful for change after seeing tens of millions of Americans, including some in law enforcement, speak out against injustice and demand meaningful change.