Giants fullback Eli Penny led a peaceful protest in the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, racial injustice, police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement on Tuesday through the streets of Norwalk, Calif., where the Los Angeles native Penny played high school football.
And Penny, 26, said what gave him hope amid these painful last few weeks was seeing so many people from different backgrounds joining the fight for change.
"The protest gave me a different outlook on a lot. What made me proud was seeing other ethnicities standing up for black people," Penny told the Daily News on the phone on Saturday. "Being from L.A., never in my lifetime have I seen the brown community, Latinos, join forces with us like that. I saw people from high school that I never thought would protest for black people join us. That creates hope that we can all put our minds together, do the right, and work together."
Penny comes from the kind of neighborhood where calling the police wasn't always viewed as a way to keep people safe. But he wants to raise awareness and use his platform in a positive way to bridge divides.
So when a friend reached out and asked for help with the peaceful protest in Norwalk, Penny told her he would love to help. And he didn't just help.
"Somehow I ended up leading it," he said. "But I feel like for our city, nobody can rep that city more than me and my family."
The protest started at Norwalk's City Hall, with introductions and guest speakers encouraging citizens to "create change," to "attend city council meetings" and to "vote local." Penny's brother, Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny, was there at the start. He didn't march only because he's rehabbing from a torn ACL.
But then Eli took the lead.
"At first everyone was on the curb, and I was like, 'In what kind of protest does everyone stay on the curb?'" he said. "So I told everybody to get off the curb and get in the street. You're not gonna get attention if you stay on the curb. I told everybody to get in the streets. You've gotta be heard to protest and gain attention."
Penny said the protest marched to every big street in the city. They even knelt in the middle of a large intersection and took a moment of silence for Floyd.
Penny said he and the protesters were unfortunately greeted by plenty of antagonizers and some obvious Trump supporters who were cursing at the protesters, flipping the middle finger and asking for trouble.
But Penny said he reminded his fellow protesters to remain peaceful and to not take the bait. He said he never felt like he was in danger, and there was _ eerily _ no police presence at all.
"Now they see what (Colin) Kaepernick was fighting for four years ago," Penny told NBC4 News. "And to see that we're still fighting the same fight now is huge. And I feel like the rest of the world, everybody is taking notice of what's going on, because it just keeps on happening and happening and happening. It's not stopping."
The Giants' virtual offseason program for veterans concluded on Friday, but for the past couple weeks, Penny said the team has taken about 20-30 minutes out of each day to speak about the ongoing racial injustice and the protests and a plan for action on the part of the team. They also had a larger team meeting on these same subjects on June 5.
Penny took last Tuesday's action on his own, but he said the Giants decided as a team how they intend to take action.
"The things we talked about as a team to create change are exactly what I've been talking about: voting local, going to city council meetings," he said. "And it's about getting to kids where all the minorities are, and getting the police and kids together so police understand who these kids are. You can't label them because where they come from.
Penny said the Giants want to get involved in community outreach to connect youth and law enforcement to "help them to a better understanding of each other."
"You shouldn't be judging someone because of the color of their skin," he said. "We want to get them together so there is less unarmed killing."
Penny and his brother, Rashaad, are also constantly trying to make a difference locally with the Two Cents Family Foundation.
