#Zach Banner condems anti-Semitism in emotional DeSean Jackson speech

An NFL player choked up as he condemned anti-Semitism a day after Philadelphia Eagles star receiver DeSean Jackson apologized for his offensive Instagram posts.

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Zach Banner said he had trouble sleeping Wednesday morning after learning that the 33-year-old Jackson had shared hateful, falsely attributed quotes to Adolf Hitler, while also praising a political activist famous for making anti-Semitic remarks.

“There’s a common misbelief among black and brown people — and I know this from growing up (in Lakewood, Washington) and I’ve listened to it — that Jewish people are just any other white race… You mix them up with the rest of the majority and don’t understand that they’re a minority as well,” said Banner, who is black like Jackson.

“I didn’t know this until I went to USC and I had friends, who are now family members believe it or not, who are part of the Jewish community, current students and Alumni.”

Banner then became visibly emotional as he discussed the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting that left 11 dead in 2018, his first season with the Steelers.

“Just tough, man,” he said while addressing the shooting from his apartment balcony overlooking Pittsburgh. “We need to understand that Jewish people deal with the same amount of hate and similar hardships and hard times. I’m not trying to get emotional right now. I want to preach to the black and brown community that we need to uplift them (the Jewish community) and put our arms around them just as much when we talk about Black Lives Matter and elevating ourselves. We can’t do that while stepping on the back of other people to elevate ourselves. That’s very important to me and should be important to everyone.”

Banner has participated in Black Lives Matter protests in Pittsburgh since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.

“Change your heart, put your arm around people and let’s all uplift each other,” the 26-year-old Banner said.

In a tweet accompanying the video, Banner wrote the point of his speech was not “to harp on” Jackson’s “mistake, but to progress by educating ourselves.”

Jackson apologized multiple times Tuesday after his posts from the weekend went viral.

While the Eagles and NFL rebuked Jackson in a pair of statements, it was believed that only one player prior to Banner publicly disapproved of Jackson’s words.

That was Seahawks guard Kahlil McKenzie, who responded to the post Wednesday by tweeting, “I’ve said it once I’ll say it again. Some of y’all wanna be woke so damn bad and then you end up looking like this. A fool.”

Jackson had shared to his 1.4 million Instagram followers an image of bogus quotes attributed to Hitler, one of which said, “the white Jews knows that the Negroes are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas secret the Jews will blackmail America. They will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.”

Jackson said he was “trying to uplift African Americans and slavery” but didn’t “really realize what this passage was saying.” In a statement Tuesday night, DeSean Jackson pledged to educate himself more.

He also applauded Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a Black political activist who has made anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks in the past.

“I saw his apology video, and it seems like his heart is in the right place,” Banner said.

It’s unclear whether the Eagles or NFL will discipline Jackson, a three-time Pro Bowler.