Before the third game of the Buffalo Bill's season, a handful of players took a knee during the national anthem, including, linebacker Lorenzo Alexander.
“I just felt that I wanted to support the guys that were kneeling,” said Alexander.
Alexander says he decided to kneel because of President Trump's remarks about Charlottesville combined with ongoing social injustices.
C.J. Long is a season ticket holder and like most Bills fans, he was watching closely.
“It was definitely frustrating at first,” said Long.
Long has several family members who served in the military. He believes the flag and the anthem deserve respect.
In protest, some fans stopped paying for tickets, some cancelled television packages. C.J. didn't want to protest.
“I chose to try and do something productive as opposed to something that continued the trend of division that we're seeing,” added Long.
So, he wrote a letter to Lorenzo Alexander.
“I got several letters and one that stood out was C.J.'s,” said Alexander.
The two agreed to meet up Tuesday morning. They didn't talk much about kneeling, but they did talk about how to better Western New York.
“Even though you may not agree on everything, I think there is a lot of commonality that we can find ground on as far moving forward our communities,” said Alexander.
“You can disagree, but let's have some sort of productive outcome from the disagreement,” added Long.
The two are planning to host an event that will try and better unite the community.
“Really, it's cool now, but where we go from here is really what's important to me,” said Long.
The divide between our country seems strong and it won't be fixed overnight, but conversations like these may help.
