FRISCO, Texas – FC Dallas players showed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement by wearing t-shirts with the message “History Must Not Repeat Itself” for the duration of its travel from Toyota Stadium in Frisco to Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin resort in Orlando, Florida.
The idea for the shirts was created by a contingent of players in conjunction with the club and owners Dan and Clark Hunt. Forward Fafa Picault – who’s been one of the more outspoken members of the squad on the topic of racial injustice – created the specific message in hopes of affecting lasting change.
“We just wanted to make something that wasn’t temporary and something that wasn’t just part of our culture in Frisco, Dallas and Texas, but something that applies across the whole country and something that plays a big part in soccer culture as well,” Picault said.
While Picault had been brewing over this idea for years, he felt the time was right to put it into action and make a stand with the support of his teammates and the FC Dallas ownership.
“I wanted to do this a few years ago but the opportunity presented itself now by the club,” he continued. “Dan and Clark Hunt reached out along with Reggie (Cannon) and Reto (Ziegler), Jimmy (Maurer) and a few of the guys. We said, ‘let’s do something that’s going to stick.’ And the shirts are just a temporary part of something that we plan to go long term with. And we’re very honored to have Dan and Clark’s full support, it’s nice when your club owners fully support us.”
Midfielder Bryan Acosta leaving the charter bus at DFW airport
As Picault explains, the phrase, “History Must Not Repeat Itself” was intended to remind the reader that we must remember the mistakes of the past in order to progress forward towards racial equality. The same mistakes cannot be made again.
“It starts not just with black players, but it starts with black and white and Latino players, and all colors of players joining together and saying, “History Must Not Repeat Itself”. That was the past, obviously we can’t forget it in order to move forward. We have to remember and be willing to shift in a positive direction; not for our sport but for the sake of our society, and that’s more important than anything.”
