"It has impressed me that DeSean has accepted these invitations and spoken to people in the Jewish community to understand their pain and the pain he caused and so I do think this is a big learning moment for him"
Wednesday 15 July 2020 11:41, UK
DeSean Jackson is working to educate himself on the pain suffered by the Jewish community after he posted a quote falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler on social media, says NBC Sports' Philadelphia Eagles insider John B. Clark.
The wide receiver's actions were swiftly condemned by the Eagles, who opted to fine him for conduct detrimental to the team while choosing not to fire or suspend him.
Jackson has since vowed to better his understanding of Jewish history and recently accepted an invitation from 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Edward Mosberg to visit Auschwitz.
He has also been invited to attend the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. by New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, who identifies as Jewish. Jackson, meanwhile, intends to donate a significant amount of money towards Jewish Community efforts.
"The way I saw DeSean after he realised how much hurt it caused and also the stigma with the name Hitler and anything he says, once he truly realised that by talking to a lot of people in the Jewish community he was very contrite and open about educating himself and saying 'you know what, I did not know enough and I didn't know enough to send something like that out'," NBC's Clark told Sky Sports News.
"He said he really didn't have a whole lot of interaction with Jewish people growing up in LA. Once I started to see him doing the right things and also apologising to owner Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman and also speaking with other influential Jewish people in Philadelphia I think I started to sense that 'okay, he does understand that he was in the wrong here'.
"I didn't sense at that point they would fire or suspend him. If he said 'you know what, I don't really need to apologise for this, I put it out there and I was trying to pump up my African American community' they would have fired him."
NBC's Clark noted the 'influential' role of Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin in explaining to Jackson the pain he had caused as well as facilitating meetings between the 33-year-old and the Eagles.
"In my mind, I still can't get over even after speaking to him, why he would post a thing that said Hitler because of what Hitler stood for," added Clark. "You can't send any of that out ever, you can't quote Hitler because he truly stood for awful things.
"But it has impressed me that DeSean has accepted these invitations and spoken to people in the Jewish community to understand their pain and the pain he caused and so I do think this is a big learning moment for him.
"I do feel that after this process playing out that he is taking the right steps and accepting those invitations. It's only by the actions and the things I'm hearing talking to the group around DeSean Jackson and his agency that I'm saying 'he is serious about this'.
"There's still a lot of anger towards DeSean in the Jewish community but hopefully over time they will see that he made a mistake and he's trying to back it up."
Jackson's anti-Semitic posts came little under two months after the unlawful killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests calling for reform.
Having called on the white community to develop a greater understanding of social inequality, Jackson must now expand his own knowledge regarding Jewish suffering.
"I did an interview with DeSean about a month ago in the height of the protests and DeSean said 'I need your help', meaning white people in America," said Clark. "'I need your help, educating yourselves, listening and jumping in saying this cannot go on'.
"I think DeSean once he started to think about it he said 'I'm trying to ask everybody to understand what we're talking about with Black Lives Matter, and I now need to understand also that Jewish people have suffered tremendously and have gone through immense pain' so I think you can understand each other.
"I do think this can bring people together and be a learning moment for all of us."
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