Brothers and NFL players Chris and Kyle Long, sons of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, were shocked and saddened by the weekend of violence that took place in their hometown of Charlottesville, Va., but felt the hateful events that stemmed from a white supremacy march wouldn't define the community they grew up in.
"Coming from Charlottesville, it's a quiet town,' Chicago Bears offensive guard Kyle Long told reporters Sunday at training camp. "The loudest it gets is on Saturdays at (the University of Virginia's) Scott Stadium. I'd say it was shocking to see (the violence), but you know, there are bad things that happen all the time. ...Prayers to those who are involved. Hopefully we can continue to do the right thing as a whole. Obviously there's going to be people that don't follow the same suit. Don't be those folks.
"People ask, 'You're from Charlottesville?' It kind of leaves a bad taste in their mouths thinking that one of their guys is from Charlottesville, where they see all these rallies and stuff happening. Like I said, don't let a few bad apples ruin what is really true about Charlottesville and that area — there's good folks there."
Several white supremacist groups staged a rally Friday to protest Charlottesville's plans to remove a Robert E. Lee statue from a park. Then on Saturday a motorist, later identified as James Alex Fields Jr., drove a car into peaceful counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others. Two Virginia state troopers were also killed — in a helicopter accident.
Kyle Long's comments come after his older brother's passionate tweets earlier this weekend. Chris Long, now with the Philadelphia Eagles, was an All-American and had his jersey retired at the University of Virginia. He tweeted his frustration with "man babies with tiki torches" rallying in his hometown.
At Eagles camp Sunday, Long reemphasized his disdain with the "despicable" violence, and stood up for the people of Charlottesville.
"I haven't seen statistics, but I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of people voicing those white supremacist sentiments were from out of town," he said. "The majority of the people that were defending our hometown against ideals like that were from Charlottesville, or students. It's disheartening, but I really think it's desperation for those folks to feel threatened by us doing the right thing."
