An “angry” and “horrified” Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley made an impassioned plea on Thursday to try be “part of the fix” in terms of better understanding the racial inequality and social injustice that has continued to plague the black community.
Asked for his comments on the state of affairs in the wake of the George Floyd tragedy, Bradley stated unequivocally that “if we want any chance to start to fix those things, then (Donald) Trump can’t be president, as simple as that.
“There is zero leadership in our country right now. Zero,” Bradley, a native of Princeton, N.J., said. “We have a president who is completely empty. There isn’t a moral bone in his body.
“There’s no leadership from the president, there’s no leadership from the Republican senators who have sat back and have been totally complicit with everything he’s done for the three and half years.
“That part now comes to a head,” the seventh-year TFC midfielder continued. “I just hope that people are able to go to the polls in November and think about more than just what is good for them, more than what is good for their own status, their own business, their own tax return. I hope that people can go to the polls and understand that in so many ways, the future of our country and the future of our democracy is at stake — to think about four more years with Trump, what that would mean. How terrible that would be for so many people.”
Bradley said he is “disgusted and embarrassed that we still live in a world where black men, black women, black children fear for their lives on a daily basis.
“We have all been a part of the problem,” he said. “The reality is we have to find real ways to confront this head on. And what we’ve been doing, the way we’ve been living up until now, is not good enough. It’s not enough at this point to say you don’t want to talk about it. It’s not enough at this point to say, ‘Well, I don’t use the n-word or I have friends who are black and I look at them as equals’ … No, those things aren’t enough. We all have to do more, we all have to educate ourselves more. We all have to have more difficult conversations. We need to do the best that we can to understand that there is a perspective in a world totally different than the one that we’re used to. To think again that in 2020 we can watch black men and black women get murdered in broad daylight … if that doesn’t (rock) you to your core, then you are a big part of the problem.
“And as a white man, as a privileged white man, I have to look harder at myself in terms of how I’m not just sitting by and taking all of it in, but doing more to really help make a difference,” he added.
Bradley addressed the issue of Major League Soccer and the MLSPA managing to ratify the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, clearing the way for a return to the field.
Bradley called the process “frustrating,” adding that the league used heavy-handed negotiating tactics, which didn’t sit right with the players, particularly in the middle of a pandemic, though he did add that the players are very excited to start training and playing.
Having the CBA ratified means that the plan to have players train and then play in a tournament to kick-start the resumption of the MLS season will likely go forward.
It also means that most MLS players, including members of TFC, began small group training at their respective training grounds on Thursday.
MLS is considering a plan to bring all the players down to Walt Disney World near Orlando this month to begin training for a tournament-style format which would start in July and involve all 26 teams where each club would play at least five games.
Under the plan, all members of each team, from players to support staff, would live under quarantine at one of the resorts near Walt Disney World, while both practices and games would primarily take place at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. Disney-owned ESPN is one of MLS’s broadcast partners.
MLS teams played two regular season games before the league suspended play on March 12 because of the COVID-19 outbreak. TFC opened the season on Feb. 29 with a 2-2 draw at San Jose against the Earthquakes and defeated New York City FC 1-0 on March 7 at BMO Field.
From a personal perspective, Bradley said he is excited that his right ankle joint — which required corrective surgery in January — is all but healed and is now able to take part in training.
Bradley, 32, was expected to be out until June because of the surgery and now it seems he will not miss any more games. The surgery involved the fixation of loose cartilage fragment in his right ankle joint, suffered in the MLS Cup final in November.
