Andrew Hawkins: We're just at a point in regard to race relations, we'...

I understood that there would be some backlash, and that scared me, honestly. But deep down, I felt like it was the right thing to do. And if I was to run away from what I felt in my soul was the right thing to do, that would make me a coward. I can’t live with that. God wouldn’t be able to put me where I am today, and as far as I’ve come in life, if I was a coward.

Andrew Hawkins

coward soul running

I was taught that justice is a right that every American should have. Also justice should be the goal of every American. I think that's what makes this country. To me, justice means the innocent should be found innocent. It means that those who do wrong should get their due punishment. Ultimately, it means fair treatment. So a call for justice shouldn't offend or disrespect anybody. A call for justice shouldn't warrant an apology.

Andrew Hawkins

apology mean country

A lot of things create a distraction, and when you're on a quest as a football team you want to limit distractions. I'm very much on board with that because I am a football player, and things can be distracting. We have 53 people that we have to make sure aren't distracted, because we only have 16 turns to do it, so every one matters so much.

Andrew Hawkins

team player football

My 4-year-old is the most kind-hearted person I've ever met in my life. Granted, he's 4, but he doesn't know people wouldn't like him. He doesn't understand that people would hurt him. When I get in these situations, that's what breaks my heart.

Andrew Hawkins

hurt heart years

As you get older and as your situation changes, it becomes different. Yes, I have to provide for my family, so if there's a chance that I'm not going to be able to provide for my family, who is always number one, my kids are always number one, then yeah, maybe it's not the same. But like I said, everybody's boiling point is different and you get to that point differently and you're at peace with it.

Andrew Hawkins

different numbers kids

I'm never the kind of person to say what somebody else should do. I'm very much do what you feel to do.

Andrew Hawkins

kind should feels

I would never say anything about [James] LeBron because I know how much he means to the community; I know how much he does in the community, which is honestly 100 times more than your average athlete.

Andrew Hawkins

athlete average mean

I think people are wrong to do it, to compare him to your way of wanting to do it. If you're passionate about it, do it and do it your way. It's not always going to be in front of the cameras after a football game - that was the way I did it. Somebody else has a different way, and that's [James] LeBron, and I know who he is. And I can't get into specifics, but it did upset me that people were calling him out for that because they were just wrong.

Andrew Hawkins

games football thinking

I don't think I'm saying anything wrong. And that's just how I judge it. I believe it's not so much about the people, that's just my take. I think making it about people is the wrong way to do it. I think it's the systems. The systems are broken; the systems are what need to be fixed. I think there's bad people in every sector of America.

Andrew Hawkins

believe america thinking

There's bad people since the beginning of time. Literally one of the first four human beings was someone who killed somebody. So that's never going to change, unfortunately.

Andrew Hawkins

four people firsts

I just take the Cleveland Browns - we are a very close football team. We care about each other, and we understand each other, and we have conversations on everything under the sun.

Andrew Hawkins

cleveland team football

I'm very much still connected to the way that I've always been perceived. And it happens. I'm not trying to play up anything, it is true. I've walked by numerous cars where they've locked the doors, I get into an elevator and someone moves out of the way. I've been to a place where some people think their children shouldn't play with my children. And that breaks my heart.

Andrew Hawkins

heart children moving

Some people who make it to where we are, life changes for them, they're treated differently, they're recognized. They're 6-foot-6, 280 pounds and people automatically know what they do for a living.

Andrew Hawkins

life-changing feet people

They want everything to be better for their children. I think athletes are starting to see that and that's why they're starting to speak out.

Andrew Hawkins

athlete children thinking

I honestly think there's people who just perceive me different.

Andrew Hawkins

different people thinking

I was always the underdog that everyone identified with, and I still think I'm that way. But if you're on the other side of the fence on a certain issue, your opinion is going to change. And that was the part I was scared of, because I built my reputation on being this guy who's all about football - and I am, and I'm still the same guy, that doesn't change.

Andrew Hawkins

issues football thinking

Whatever backlash I was going to get, whatever consequence there was for stating my opinion, I was OK with. Because I look at my son's eyes, I look at the eyes of my daughter, and I would be a bad dad if my No. 1 goal wasn't always to put them in the best situation as possible.

Andrew Hawkins

dad daughter eye

Shame on me, for me to have this platform and me to have this opportunity to stand up for something that I thought was unjust, and I passed on it. I can't do that.

Andrew Hawkins

shame unjust opportunity

How you educate the people around you, what steps you take toward making it better, what sacrifices you make. The equation of life is simple: There's no gain without pain. For whatever reason, that's the way this world was designed in every facet. It's the same thing, there has to be a sacrifice.

Andrew Hawkins

sacrifice pain simple

If you're tweeting - and this is what I tell the young athletes who come to me about these situations, because I've been through them and I've seen both sides of it - if you're tweeting just because everyone else is tweeting and you're not uncomfortable, if it doesn't feel like a sacrifice - like when I wore that T-shirt it was a sacrifice.

Andrew Hawkins

sacrifice athlete sides