Eagles defensive end and University of Virginia alum Chris Long was outspoken after conflicts escalated from a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. in August. On Tuesday, it was announced that Long would be making efforts to help his hometown.
Long will be donating his first six game checks to fund scholarships in Charlottesville:
Nice job, @JOEL9ONE pic.twitter.com/h7pRi5w4dJ
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 19, 2017
Long is partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Virginia and St. Anne’s Belfield School to give two seven-year scholarships to middle school students in the state.
“In August, we watched people fill our hometown streets with hatred and bigotry,” Long said in a press release. “Megan and I decided to try to combat those actions with our own positive investment in our community.”
After the Charlottesville rally, Long started putting his arm around teammate Malcolm Jenkins, who has been raising a fist during the national anthem since Colin Kaepernick began his protest in 2016.
"No one gave a s---, frankly, until I put my hand around Malcolm," Long told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero in late August. "That just goes to show you the power of symbolic protests. All of a sudden, everyone cares about my protest, but they never cared about my actions — which kind of proves, well, why do you need (to protest during the anthem)? If guys were just like, 'Hey, I'm over here! I want to talk about social issues,' the reporters would be like, 'We don't care.'"
Long — much like Kaepernick has — is doing the work off the field to try to combat what he feels is wrong in the world in order to make it a better place.