Jürgen Klopp Hopes the Black Lives Matter Movement Will Change the World

At his pre-Everton press conference over Zoom, Jürgen Klopp was asked to comment on a growing movement amongst footballers to use their status to spread support for social change and Black Lives Matter. Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain recently appeared in the Raheem Sterling led “We Are Tired” spot alongside players both current and retired. Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford successfully put pressure on the British government to provide free school meals to children in need over the summer break. The list goes on.

Of Rashford’s move, Klopp said he couldn’t respect it more and continued on speaking in support of equality and #BlackLivesMatter.

“I hope it’s the last time that we have to make sure that everybody hears and sees that,” said Klopp, “because it’s too long that we already deal with these kinds of things, for reasons I really don’t understand.

“If football is a role model for anything in life, then it’s for equality, that everybody is exactly the same. Wherever you come from, you’re absolutely the same. It’s all about who you are.

“I know from my point of view you may think it’s easy to say that, but it’s not easy. It’s just for us in football completely natural. And that’s how it should be everywhere. Judge people only because of who they are and not any other things.

“It’s so unbelievably dumb to not do it like this that it’s really hard for me to even understand it a little bit. But it is like this and so we have to stand up or we have to kneel, whatever we have to do, we will do. The past we cannot change but the future we can change and that’s what we all should try.”