Erika Harris DeValve, wife of Cleveland Browns player Seth DeValve, shared her personal feelings with The Root about the recent protest her husband demonstrated on Monday night during a game against the Giants. In her article – or plea, rather, Harris asked that no one place him on a pedestal for deciding to do the right thing – protest along with 12 of his black teammates.

Harris wrote that she and her husband previously have had "in-depth" discussions about race in America, so she was indefinitely proud to see that he actually listened during those conversations. "He gets it, beyond the desire to protect his wife," she said. 

DeValve is the first white NFL player to kneel during a demonstration like this, as last September, Megan Rapinoe, a U.S. women’s soccer player, was the first white professional athlete to do so, according to Sports Illustrated. 

Harris continued, that while she the support Seth has received since his protest, she wants to remind his fans, fellow teammates and people world wide, that a black man lost his career and still remains jobless almost a year later for deciding to take serious action and fight for justice on his own. She wrote that she would rather her husband be viewed as an ally of his black teammates, opposed to a "white savior" who somehow managed to so easily legitimize a movement that's been going on for months. 

Harris also made it clear that she has a message for anyone who has made the assumption that Seth was automatically obligated to do something like this simply because he has a black wife: "I offer a dramatic eyeroll," she wrote. 

In an interview after the game Monday, Seth said, “I myself will be raising children that don’t look like me, and I want to do my part as well to do everything I can to raise them in a better environment than we have right now.” 

For people who believe these protests are somehow disrespectful to the flag and to those who have served in war, Harris believes that what Kaepernick did, as well as the other players like her husband who are following suit, is something we all should see as real patriotism.

"They are engaging critically with the national anthem and this country’s articulated ideals; they are consciously observing the reality of our country’s current state; and they are using their platforms to publicly hold the country in which they live accountable to the ideals it is supposed to be upholding," Harris concluded.

She applauds those who understand something must be done during these troubling times of blatant racial unfairness and inequality.