Did the NFL agree to give $250 million to Black Lives Matter (BLM)? No, that's not true: Although the football league recently announced that it would commit $250 million over 10 years to "combat systematic racism and support the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African-Americans," it made no mention of BLM.
The claim appeared as a Facebook post (archived here) on July 19, 2020. It read:
The NFL has agreed to give BLM 250M. I will never watch an NFL game again. I'm OUT!
This is what the widely shared post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Jul 21 15:38:50 2020 UTC)
Contrary to what the post alleges, the NFL never said that it would give $250 million to BLM. Rather, it said:
The NFL is growing our social justice efforts through a 10-year total $250 million fund to combat systematic racism and support the battle against the ongoing and historic injustices faced by African-Americans. The NFL and our clubs will continue to work collaboratively with NFL players to support programs to address criminal justice reform, police reforms, and economic and educational advancement.
Here's a look at the statement in its entirety:
#InspireChange pic.twitter.com/5knqHCExSp
-- NFL (@NFL) June 11, 2020
In the past, the NFL has given social justice grants to a variety of different organizations. Among them are the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the National Urban League, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and the United Negro College Fund, according to NFL.com.
As a side note, it's worth mentioning that shortly before the NFL announced its $250 million pledge, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a video in which he expressed the league's belief that "black lives matter." He said:
We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of black people. We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter.
The video can be seen here:
We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter. #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/ENWQP8A0sv
-- NFL (@NFL) June 5, 2020
