INDIANAPOLIS -- As a biracial man and the son of a police officer, DeShone Kizer has seen inequality and injustice from multiple vantage points.



So when President Donald Trump referred to any NFL player peacefully protesting the national anthem as a 'son of a bitch,' it rocked Kizer to his core.



"Once again, this is a tragedy in this country that we have to sit here and still have these discussions,'' Kizer said after Sunday's 31-28 loss to the Colts. "I know for a fact that I'm no son of a bitch and I plan on continuing forward and doing whatever I can from my position to promote the equality that's needed in this country.''

Kizer locked arms with his teammates during the national anthem Sunday, but at least 20 of his teammates knelt in protest. The decision to take a knee again comes after the Browns stood arm-in-arm with military personnel, police officers and first responders during the national anthem before their home opener Sept. 10th against the Steelers.

But watching the NFL come together on Sunday in the aftermath of Trump's remarks heartened Kizer, who's experienced discrimination in various ways.

"Absolutely,'' he said. "I think the first thing happened with Colin (Kaepernick), that was the ultimate goal, is to be able to use our platform as a league to bring attention to the inequalities that are out there in our country and as we continue to move forward, and the conversation continues to grow, I think we're doing our job in terms of bringing the recognition to that.''

Kizer said the President's hurtful remarks didn't impact them on the playing field.

"No, once again, we're professionals and we keep our job our job and the things we do off the field are handled individually,'' he said.

Kizer told cleveland.com earlier this month that his father, Derek, a Toledo police officer, fully supported him when he put his hand on the shoulder of his kneeling teammates before the Monday Night Football preseason game against the Giants.

"My dad and I have multiple conversations about it and he thinks that as long a I continue to do the research and understand why I'm doing what I'm doing, he's completely supportive of it,'' said Kizer. "That was a situation where he was 100% proud of me for supporting those guys who obviously had the message to be sent across that we can help our country.''

Browns players had decided to stand up and lock arms after their initial peaceful protest before the Monday Night Game, but many felt they had to take a knee again after Trump referred to them as sons of bitches.

"My mom is not what he says she is, and that's what I've got to say on that right now,'' said safety Jabrill Peppers.

Said receiver Kenny Britt: "I've got some words I would rather not say, but I know I'm not a son of whatever he said. That's another thing, another story.''

At a rally Friday night to support Alabama Republican Senate candidate Luther Strange, Trump urged NFL owners to say to any anthem protestor "get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he's fired. He's fired!"

He also said any owner doing so would be the most popular one in the country for a week. He also urged fans to boycott games if their players protest.

Browns cornerback Jason McCourty couldn't believe his ears.

"I would honestly say shocked,'' said McCourty. "You don't really expect it. You come into work Saturday. It was all over social media and a lot of the guys were talking about it. Really just shocked. You couldn't believe that, to say that and then to actually watch the video and see how just casual he stayed.

"It's just like, 'Wow.' Like, 'Really that's the way we're thought of?' And then to hear everybody around cheer and then to hear us booed for what we're doing, it's just like, 'You agree with that? You think we're sons of bitches?' That's not how we want to be referred to.''



McCourty was one of about 20 Browns players who knelt Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium during the national anthem in Sunday, with the full support of Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam. Most of the others stood locked arm-in-arm.

"As individuals, as a team collectively, you have to do what you feel is right and what you feel your loved ones would have (expected) from you and what you feel is just the right thing to do. You go on with whatever criticism comes from that. Whether you take a knee, whether you don't take a knee, whether you don't cross arms, someone's going to have something to say about it.

"So respect yourself, respect others and do it. The best part about it, we did it in a peaceful way. We're not trying to disrespect anyone. We're not trying to disrespect the flag. We're not trying to disrespect our troops by any means. I want that to definitely be the main point. But we do feel like it was something that needed to be done."

Like Kizer, McCourty has family members protecting the country and its citizens, and means no disrespect.

"It has nothing to do with the flag whatsoever,'' he said. "My father served before he passed away. My brother fought in the Persian Gulf War, my stepdad fought in the Vietnam War. I'd let those guys know, I'd let anybody that would ask know that it's no disrespect to a police officer, to a person that served in our armed forces. We have the utmost respect for those guys. They do something that we could never imagine doing.

"We think taking a football field and playing a football game, a lot of people always say you're going to battle, it's nothing compared to what those men and women do, sacrificing their life for us to have the freedom to use our speech, to use a peaceful protest to try to fix the things that the flag does represent and that it does stand for and that's all we're saying. We're not saying we're un-American, we're just trying to show that. At the same time, when you're called a son of a bitch from another American, as an American, there needs to be something done about that, so that's the way we felt.''

McCourty was so passionate about addressing Trump's remarks that he declined to answer a question about Kizer's fourth-quarter rally.

"To be honest with you, at this time I really don't want to talk football,'' he said. "We really believe in Kiz (but) I think it was more important to talk about what we did talk about.''