Twin brothers Devin and Jason McCourty are not just among the leaders on the New England Patriots’ defense, but also actively involved in the community. Ever since they joined the organization in 2010 and 2018, respectively, they have been supporting charitable and social causes — from advocating for criminal justice reform, to helping improve Massachusetts’ public education system, to their Tackle Sickle Cell foundation.
In light of the current protests taking place all over the United States, the two decided to use their platform to organize a round table and tackle the current issues from their perspective: the McCourty twins invited three of their former Rutgers teammates — Chris Quaye, Antonio Lowery, and Pat Brown — on the latest episode of their Double Coverage podcast to discuss their personal experiences as black men in their respective fields of work.
“Sports is obviously something that plays a huge role in our lives, but right now sports doesn’t seem like something that’s very important,” Jason McCourty said. “There’s a lot of things going on in our country. Obviously, from the pandemic to everything that’s going on with racial issues that have plagued our country for hundreds of years. We wanted to just open up our platform to be able to discuss some of these things.”
The brothers also responded to listener questions and comments posted live during the show, with Devin answering one about how regular people can support social causes and get involved in changing the issues that are currently being protested.
“Exercising your right to vote. Researching, knowing what it is that you want to see in your community and then listening,” the 32-year-old said. “Listening to other people in other communities, neighboring communities — communities maybe you wouldn’t even want to go to or think to go to. Go see their plight. Go see their life, their struggles and try to be a voice for them as well so they’re not the only ones talking.”
Their fight to improve lives has recently earned the McCourty twins a nomination for the prestigious Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award, while Devin will get honored during a virtual fundraiser organized by Boston Uncornered next week.