The Players Coalition and dozens {of professional} athletes despatched a letter to Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray soliciting for a direct federal investigation into the dying of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.
Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights Eric Dreiband additionally used to be despatched the letter on Friday. It used to be signed via such sports activities stars as Tom Brady, Steve Kerr and Players Coalition co-founders Anquan Boldin and Malcolm Jenkins.
The Players Coalition used to be shaped in 2017 to boost consciousness about police and neighborhood members of the family, legal justice reform and schooling and financial development. It evolved out of the dispute between NFL group homeowners and the gamers who have been kneeling all through the nationwide anthem to convey a focal point on social injustice.
The letter asked that the FBI and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division lead the investigation into the taking pictures of Aubrey, a black guy, on Feb. 23 via two white males, Travis and Greg McMichael. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged the daddy and son this week with homicide and annoyed attack after a video of the taking pictures used to be leaked and shared broadly, sparking outrage.
The coalition’s letter cites delays via Georgia prosecutors and asks for a “robust federally led investigation … the only way to restore community trust that Mr. Arbery’s death will be fully investigated.”
It comprises 64 signatures, together with Pro Football Hall of Famer Aenaes Williams and the NFL’s director of soccer operations, Troy Vincent.